Battles we like to see
by DragonlordRynn
Summary: A collection of One-Shots of fictional characters duking it out. Round seven: Jedi vs Space Marine
1. Author's Disclaimer

**Author:**  
 **This collection of One-Shots is not connected in any way, though there might or might not be a series of parallels.  
Its original purpose was to write down a few **_**Battles we like to see**_ **, where fictional characters from different franchises duke it out and see who will win, without having to write an entire Fanfic.**

 **My sister and I tried to analyze the overall abilities of the combatants and the most possible outcome of those battles.  
There might be mistakes and outcomes most other fans would have done differently, but remember, we are humans too. We did try to keep all abilities in canon and the battle in itself as neutral as possible without picking a side.**

 **However, there might be results hard-wired fans will not like, so please keep your flaming on a minimum.**

 **I try to explain at the end of every battle the reason why it ended like this, hoping that you'll discuss the writing style and not the outcome with me.**

 **Okay, now to the stories in themselves: Every one is a Battle we like to see, and with 'we' I mean you guys too. If you have an idea of another battle, feel free to mail me or mention them somewhere. I will need a lot of time to write them down, so this collection might appear abandoned, but it isn't.**

 **Also, I am going to change the category every time I'll upload a new battle to the new story, so you always know who fights who and in which universe this happens.**

 **That said, have a lot of fun reading these stories!**

 **DLRynn & Sister.**


	2. Captain America vs Kotal Kahn

**Author: The first battle! Captain America from Marvel (the Movieverse Steve, I guess), fighting Kotal Kahn from Mortal Kombat X.  
Sit down, buckle up and grab a bag of Popcorn. There are some cameos in there too, let's see whether you recognize them.  
**

* * *

Steve was cringing on the inside when his shield hit a HYDRA Agent at full force, sending him reeling into the wet dock of the Rhine.

He lifted his hand to his ear. "Sam", he ordered, "Get that guy out of there. We don't want anybody to drown today."

" _I'm on it, Cap"_ , the Falcon replied. Steve heard the whoosh of his suit as the soldier darted down, skimming the surface just enough to grab the unconscious man and drag him out of the water and towards the rapidly darkening sky.

"Clint?" Steve asked, "How's the situation?"

" _Three are trying to flee, but Buck got them- never mind. Nate got to them first."_

" _Oh hey!"_ Bucky's voice complained, _"I had them!"_

" _Too slow, Barnes"_ , Natasha's voice replied in a sing-song tone. _"You have to be faster than that."_

"Quit flirting", Steve sighed. "Wanda? What about you?"

" _No troubles here"_ , the Mutant answered. _"I just finished snuffing out that fire."_

"Okay. Then let's finish this here", Steve ordered. "And then hand them over to the German Forces. They figured them out first, after all."

The fighting tapered off bit by bit as a rainstorm set in. The Captain wiped his hand across his face to remove some excess water, secured his shield over his back and wrenched a van door open, releasing the four hostages inside.

"Sie sind nun in Sicherheit", he explained to them in slow, carefully pronounced German before he stepped back and allowed the medics to take over. The four young women stared at him with wide eyes before slowly scrambling out of the car they were held hostage in. Their whimpered thanks made Steve remind why exactly they were doing this.

To help people.

His team of the Avengers just finished dragging the last of the HYDRA agents over to an overhead corrugated metal roof where they piled them up. Casualties were, luckily, rare, only about four of HYDRA had been killed in the skirmish, while the team managed to capture the rest alive. He knew, however, that most of these men would rather commit suicide than spitting out information, but he wasn't going to take the captives from the German Police Forces.

It was their merit, after all. Without the independent decision of two rather overzealous Highway Patrol members to call in the Avengers, HYDRA would have managed to escape after setting off an on stolen ARC technology basing bomb at the Cologne Main Train Station.

These two had noticed that the series of murders their colleagues in the Crime Scene were currently investigating, and the theft of technology were connected, so after realizing that they wouldn't have had any chance, they called in the Avengers, and Steve's team followed the call.

Now they stood at the docks of the Mülheimer Hafen, the main harbor of Cologne, and watched how police cars arrived to take the HYDRA Agents away. The rain above them splattered heavily against the roof they were sheltered under.

"Mann!" the Highway Patrol man of Turkish descendant exclaimed excited, "Das war das geilste, dass ich je erlebt habe!"

"Semir! Aussprache!" His partner reminded him, though he was clearly excited as well. After all, it wasn't every day that they could work together with _THE_ Avengers.

The man turned to Steve, grinning wide. "Hey", he said in accented English. "Thanks for helping us. We wouldn't have done this without you."

"We should be thanking you", Steve gave back. "You figured out their plans before we even knew they were here. So thank you for helping us, Mister Jäger."

The man blinked, before squealing like a schoolgirl that the great Captain America knew his name!

Steve smiled and turned his attention to the Police Officers around. "Good work", he declared. "I'm very grateful for your help, and I hope we could develop our co-operation some more." He was a bit ashamed that he couldn't properly speak German, though Natasha translated for him, even if it wasn't really necessary.

The men and women understood him even without him speaking German, and they cheered in excitement.

The Avengers have done a great deed today for the people of Cologne, and they prevented worse things from happening.

"Is everything all right?" Steve turned at Bucky's words, noticing his best friend frown at Wanda. The young woman was currently staring at the dark clouds above them. Eventually, she turned to her team member. "I don't know", she began slowly, "But there is something...strange about this weather." She furrowed her brows. "As if...it is unnatural."

"Unnatural?" A cold shiver ran down Steve's back. Unnatural weather phenomenona never meant anything good lately.

Suddenly there was a static shriek, startling the witch and the Super Soldier. Luckily, it was just the Radio of Semir, who picked it up.

The radio shrieked again before a female voice came through it. _"An alle Einheiten",_ the dispatcher said, _"Vorfall an der Lanxess Arena am Willy-Brandt-Platz! Ich wiederhole: Alle verfügbaren Einheiten zum Willy-Brandt-Platz! Es gibt Personenschäden!"_

"What is going on?!" Sam asked worried, "That kind of didn't sound very good."

"It didn't", Natasha replied calmly, "It appears there has been an accident."

"Hier Cobra 11", the Turkish Policeman answered his radio. "Ich brauch mehr Informationen. Was geht da vor sich?!"

There was a short silence before the dispatcher replied. _"Die Anrufer berichten von einer Gruppe von...Mutanten...die plötzlich aus dem Nichts aufgetaucht sind und eine andere Gruppe attackieren. Den Berichten zufolge gibt es bereits Tote_ _!_ _"_

"Scheiße!"

Jäger, who listened to his partner's radio, whirled to meet Steve's eyes. "We have a situation", he said, "Can you help us again? We can't deal with mutants"

"Where is this Lanxess Arena?" the Captain wanted to know. "We will head there immediately!"

"Further South", Clint cut in. "Just across the train tracks. According to Friday it's just past the convention centre."

"Saddle up", Steve ordered. "Figure out what's going on and try to prevent them from harming the civilians! Go!"

The Avengers immediately turned and dashed outside, grabbing motor bikes and cars for a quick get-away. Sam and Wanda shot through the air towards the Lanxess Arena.

* * *

Navigating through dense German traffic was complicated, but not impossible. Steve swerved his motor bike to the side, dodging a car from the front. The rainstorm had worsened, forcing Sam and Wanda to regroup with the remaining team and the Police forces. Steve ground his teeth together as his bike hobbled across the train tracks between them and the large oval building in front of them. This was the Lanxess Arena and he could already hear people scream.

"Sam!" He shouted and the Falcon was off immediately. He shot through the sky and vanished behind the building, though they could hear his sharp intake of breath over the radio a second later.

" _Shit!"_ He swore, _"I definitely need reinforcements here! Hurry!"_ They heard him gasp. _"Fuck. They just killed that guy!"_

"Hold it, Sam!" Steve bellowed, "We're almost there!"

His bike skidded around the corner, allowing him to see the scene in front of him. People were fleeing in panic while the rain pelted them mercilessly.

A group of mutants was just locked in battle with a group of black-clad men. The men, despite being soldiers, had no chance against their attackers.

One of them looked like a lizard, swiping nimbly around the men and slashing his claws towards them, slicing through flesh and clothes effortlessly. Another one was hovering over the ground, casting green _magic_ at the men, snapping their bodies like twigs without so much as flicking his wrist. There was a yellow woman with insect-like wings and long spiked legs growing from her back, who commandeered a swarm of highly aggressive bugs to attack the people. There was a pair among them, a man with almost Hulk-like features clad in spiky armor and a young girl with blades attached to her wrists. She was just in the process of violently slicing through a man's body, separating him. Lengthwise.  
One of the attackers was a tall man dressed like a cowboy, shooting his guns at his foes and downing them within seconds. The last one was extremely tall and muscular, dressed in Aztec armor, and his blue skin rendered him almost invisible in the rainstorm, even as he swung a giant sword-like weapon with so much force, he sliced through a grown man's torso like it was butter.

Steve saw a man in purple and gold trying to fight back, but finding himself cornered by the cowboy and the bug woman, while the Aztec was trading blows with a woman in yellow. He easily overpowered her and sent her to the ground with a brutal kick, before advancing on her and swinging his sword over his head, ready to kill her.

Steve leapt off his bike and hurled his shield with full force, hitting the Aztec and making him stumble back in surprise. As he caught himself and whirled around to face the Captain, Steve was already in front of the woman and had his shield firmly in front of his body.

"Stand down", the Captain growled, "Put your weapon away and get down on the floor. Now."

The Aztec glared at him, not backing down. Instead, he scowled and stepped towards Steve. "You dare?" He asked with a deep rumbling voice. "You dare to order the Emperor of Outworld?" He took another step, hand clenched around his sword's heft. "You dare to attack the Emperor? You dare to stop me from executing my enemy?!"

Steve set his own face in a scowl. "Not under my watch, _your highness_." He didn't leave the Aztec out of his eyes, though he did notice how the other mutants had stopped and were currently staring at the two. Apparently, the Aztec was their leader.

"Ma'am, get away", the Captain hissed to the woman behind him. "Hurry, I'll hold him off."

The woman scrambled to her feet and dashed away, though the Aztec turned his attention on her. "D'Vorah" He snapped. The insect woman immediately changed trajectory and shot towards the fleeing woman, but Sam swooped down, kicking her hard.

"Not today, Ladybug", he commented, landing on the floor while the insect woman hit the ground in a roll to flip back upright.

The remaining Team gathered behind the Captain, glaring at the blue Aztec and his team that began moving towards them as well.

"You made a grave misssstake", the lizard hissed, "You attacked the great Kotal Kahn, Emperor of Outworld. The punishment for thissss issss _death_!"

"I hear you talking", Clint quipped, "But I don't care. As far we are concerned, you just murdered a whole lot of people here. You are going _down_."

"These Earthrealmers need a lesson in respect", the Insect woman sneered. "And this one will show these worms not to trifle with Outworld business."

The blue Aztec nodded. "Destroy them", he barked. "But leave the soldier to me. He will face Osh-Tekk Wrath."

"As you wish, Emperor", the Insect Woman agreed. She hissed before throwing herself at the Avengers, but Sam tackled her again with full force.

"I'll take the Ladybug!" he called out.

"Dibs on the cowboy then", Clint added, drawing his bow.

The cowboy arched an eyebrow behind his mask. "Bow and arrows? How obsolete."

"Yeah, tell yourself that, Brokeback."

"Torr smash pretty lady!" The girl suddenly yelled, and her hulk-like partner roared in agreement.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Anybody want to trade?" she asked exasperated.

"Sorry, Nate", Wanda growled. "I'm gonna take care of that floating Mummy dude."

"And I got lizard breath", Bucky added. "Shouldn't take long, though."

"Don't overesssstimate yoursssself, human", the lizard hissed. "I will take great pleasssure ripping you from limb to limb!"

* * *

The ground was slippery from the rain and the remains of the unfortunate men slaughtered before. Steve ground his teeth together and rolled over his shoulder as the giant mace/sword combination threatened to cleave him in half.

By now, he had realized that his enemy was either a mutant or an alien, seeing as his pupil-less eyes seemed to glow in the darkness and the blue color of his skin didn't wash off. And since he claimed to be the Emperor of _Outworld_ , Steve was sure the guy was an alien.  
Like Thor.

But he wasn't as strong as the Asgardian. No, this Kotal Kahn was only about as strong as the Captain, but bulkier. And Steve was faster. His Serum enhancements increased his reaction speed tremendously, though the Kahn was quite adept at fighting even despite that.

Screw this. It was like he was _made_ for battle. He easily countered any blow Steve tried to land, or just tanked them without so much as a scowl. Steve ducked under the man's arm and threw a punch right into the man's solar plexus, but the Aztec only barely flinched. He jabbed his elbow down, trying to hit the Captain, though Steve evaded by diving to the side. He scowled, trying to bring the guy down to help the others, but a quick glance to the side told him that they managed to hold their own, even though their opponents were also extremely skilled in battle. He had bigger troubles himself, like the wall of teal muscles currently trying to carve him up like prime beef.

The Captain swung around, lashing his leg out in an attempt to hit him, and even though the Kahn did slide across the floor from the force of the blow, he managed to catch his leg. Steve growled at the increasing pressure from his grip and before his ankle could be crushed in the other's hand, he brought up his other leg in an impressive corkscrew kick. The Cap managed to kick the other hard enough for him to let go off of his foot, enabling him to create some distance between them.

The Aztec was already coming at him again, swinging his huge mace/sword in a massive overhead swing. The Super Soldier had just enough time to bring up his shield to fend the certainly fatal attack off. With a resounding clang, the two objects collided. Kotal Kahn snarled in anger before bringing his sword down again, only this time slamming it hard into the concrete ground, digging it several inches into the floor.

The shock wave from that blow sent Steve stumbling, and the Super Soldier barely managed to evade the following upwards swing and prevent losing important body parts.

' _Two can play this game'_ he thought grimly, taking off running before he slid to his knees and kicked one foot towards the so-called Emperor, attempting to throw him off his balance. However, the Emperor already anticipated the move. The Aztec stepped aside just in the right moment and quickly stomped down on Steve's leg, stopping him dead in his tracks and making him grunt at the pain.

The blue-skinned Aztec pulled his lips up in a dark smirk. "I have been alive for more than one millennium, boy", he declared. "And I have survived many battles. There is nothing with which you can surprise me."

"Oh really?" Steve drawled out before slamming his shield with a satisfying clang into the other's face, making him shout in surprise and pain and stumble away. "Doesn't make this any less effective, though."

The Emperor's helmet probably saved him from getting his nose or jaw broken from the blow, though his lip had been split. The Aztec tested the gash with his finger, narrowed his eyes at Steve and licked the blood away with a scowl. He slowly moved around the Captain, glaring at him as he circled the man. "When I have brought you to your knees, I will drink your blood", he growled before lunging at the Captain again.

Steve ducked aside, grinning in satisfaction. He had figured the other out by now.

Kotal Kahn possessed incredible strength, especially in the upper body, making him effectively stronger than Steve, but he lacked agility. His way of fighting was designed to cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time, to take out his enemy quickly.

Good for fighting a horde of poorly-trained foes, but devastating when fighting a man who was faster on his feet.

Steve could wear the Aztec down, his Serum upgrade allowing him to move for a longer period of time without getting winded.

He knew he couldn't really try to get the Aztec to surrender through exhaustion, the man was much too stubborn for that, but he was going to soften him up to knock him out. Logic demanded that if he was defeated, his men would yield too.

Steve shot towards the Kahn, bringing his shield up to block a blow from the sword once more. The Aztec growled under his breath, snapping his leg out and managing to hit Steve's knee. The Super Soldier bit back a groan under the strain from the surprisingly strong blow. The guy could very well have dislocated his patella if he had worn actual shoes and not just a strip of leather beneath his soles.

But he had sacrificed balance for an attack. Steve smirked.

In an impossible fast motion, he batted his shield to the side, removing the sword-mace from his closer vicinity and causing the Aztec to stagger back. Steve quickly followed this up by a vicious blow to the man's Solar Plexus. The fast assault had taken the man by surprise, leaving him no time to prepare so he stumbled and doubled over, gasping once with a startled expression on his face. He quickly caught himself with his mace and glared darkly at the Captain.

"So you really wish to do Kombat against me..." he snarled, stabbing the mace sword into the ground besides him. "Then so we shall."

Steve flinched back when the Kahn drew a dagger from his belt, pointing it towards his own torso before he slammed it down and dragged it right over his chest. Blood rushed out of the wound, mingling with the lines engraved into his skin.

Kotal Kahn's eyes suddenly flashed crimson, just like the lines across his body. "Your sacrifice will bring honor to me", he snapped, ripping the sword mace out of the ground before suddenly charging the Super Soldier.

Steve just barely managed to bring his shield up, realizing that the Aztec suddenly got faster. And stronger, he noticed a moment later when his knees buckled beneath the blow. The Kahn snarled and kicked his leg out again, hitting Steve's stomach and sending him flying. Steve swore and twisted his body back into the right position, so he landed on the ground with his feet first, sliding backwards from the sheer power of the blow.

He grunted, glaring at the red-glowing man, who scowled back. He put the sword back on his back and retrieved two sickles before he suddenly...vanished.

Gone in a pillar of fire.

Steve blinked in confusion, staring at the spot the Aztec had been just a few seconds before, when his neck suddenly crawled in warning. He heard a faint _whoof_ just behind his back and just barely managed to whirl around and get his shield up.

Not a second too late as the Kahn was suddenly behind him and had tried to take off his head with his sickles, which were now firmly lodged against the shield.

Steve grunted. He had to take away his weapons.

The Kahn wasn't fighting like most enemies they had. He fought with the intention to _kill_.

A series of gun shots from the sides told Steve that the others also tried to seriously injure his team mates, though he was aware that they managed to hold their own.

Kotal snarled and freed his sickles, then changed tactics and tried to assault Steve from the back. Steve was still faster than the Aztec, and managed to keep at a safe distance. The Kahn had different ideas, though. He stepped closer again, put away one sickle and swiped the other at Steve. The Captain brought his shield up again, catching the strike, but realized too late that he left himself wide-open.

Kotal threw a fierce uppercut at the Soldier out of Time, sending him actually flying. The Captain hit the ground again a few yards away, groaning in pain. That blow just nearly dislocated his jaw, and it hurt almost as bad as getting punched by Bucky's metal arm.

He noticed a shadow approaching him and quickly dove to the side as the pair of sickles dug into the ground just where his head has been a second ago.

Okay, back on track, he had to get these things away from him. The sickles and the giant mace/sword thing, and maybe the dagger too.

Steve quickly dove behind the Aztec and whirled around, kicking him with all strength into the back to make him stumble to the front. Kotal growled in annoyance and turned to face him, swinging his mace once more. Steve brought up his shield and stopped the weapon, but this time he had enough of it. In the very moment the weapon clanged off the shield, the Captain's hand shot out and seized the weapon, ignoring the blades biting into his hand as he held on tight. Kotal grunted, trying to tug the weapon back, but Steve wouldn't let him.

He smashed his shield into the Aztec's forearm with so much power he could almost hear bones crack. The Kahn hissed in pain, but refused to let go of his weapon.  
Steve helped him with that decision, bringing his knee up to finally snap the man's arm in a violent blow.

The Kahn staggered back with a hiss, letting his arm hang limply from his side as he stared in utter rage at the Soldier out of time.

"That's it", Steve declared, chucking the giant sword mace away, "Give up and we will treat that wound."

The Kahn glared at him before pulling his lips up in a snarl. "You believe breaking my arm will make me yield? I survived injuries worse than this!"

He lunged again, though Steve noticed that he was moving slightly slower. The red pattern on his body wasn't glowing as strong anymore either.

' _Whatever he did'_ , the Captain realized, _'It is wearing off!'_

He swung his shield again, catching the sickle and slamming it out of the Kahn's hand. The Aztec growled and kicked his foot into Steve's stomach, making him stumble back.

Then he stopped, doubled over and panting.

His magic was taking a toll out of him.

"Just give up", the Captain tried to tell him, "Call back your men and we'll have mercy."

"Mercy is for the weak", Kotal Kahn spat, standing up straight once more, "And I will have none of yours."

"Have it your way then, your highness", Steve muttered. He ducked low, preparing himself to charge the man once more. Kotal braced himself, glaring darkly at the soldier. His red pattern and his eyes began to glow duller than they did before.

Steve realized that if he would force him to keep going for a little while longer, the man would be too exhausted to do anything.

Suddenly, the Kahn's attention snapped away from the Captain, settling skywards.

A single beam of light broke through the dark clouds above them.

Steve furrowed his brows. He hadn't even noticed how the weather cleared up during their battle.  
But then he saw Kotal Kahn's expression and decided that he didn't like it.

The Kahn was grinning viciously as he moved towards the sunbeam, though he didn't leave Steve out of his eyes.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance", the Aztec declared, "Now the ancient Osh-Tekk magik will be your doom!"

"What do you-oh."

Steve stared surprised as the man's tattoos and eyes began to glow golden under the light of the sun.

His surprise quickly turned to horror when he saw the gash in his lip close up before his very eyes. Kotal flexed his broken arm and Steve heard his bones crack and grind against each other as they settled back into their original position and healing up, leaving his arm as good as new.

The Kahn smirked unpleasantly when the clouds parted more, revealing more and more sun shining down on him. "This is your end", he claimed, lifting his previously broken arm. _"Hoteh mah-YAH sha-leh!"_

A flaming disk suddenly appeared right above his hand which he flung violently at the Captain. Steve had his shield up to block the attack, but suddenly found Kotal teleporting away again. This time, he couldn't react fast enough when the Aztec suddenly appeared behind him and slammed his remaining sickle into his shoulder with surprising strength.

Steve cried out in pain, but was already moving again to throw a punch at the teal mutant.

Kotal caught his hand with humiliating ease before smacking his flat palm against Steve's chest. Golden energy suddenly slammed into the Captain, stunning him momentarily so Kotal could easily lift him off the ground and throw him a few yards through the air with a malicious chuckle.

Steve's head was whirling. The guy just stood in the sun and suddenly _healed_ himself? That was so not _fair_!

Kotal smirked again, thrusting his fist up with an inarticulate yell to summon a beam of light on his head. The light _burned_ through his skin, making Steve leap back in shock. Suddenly, Kotal was there again, grabbing both his feet and slamming him into the ground face-first with way too much strength.

Steve groaned and tried to figure out where everything went so _wrong_.

Oh yeah. When the guy got a solar boost.

He quickly rolled away before the Kahn's foot stomped down where his head has just been, then jumped back to his feet and slammed his shield into the man's face. The impact was formidable and it made Steve's shoulder flare up in pain, thought the Kahn simply took the blow before the damage healed over within a few seconds.

"Guys?!" Steve called out as he leapt backwards. "A little help here?!"

"Sorry!" Bucky yelled from where he was currently trying to brawl with the huge Hulk-like guy and the mean little girl. "I've got my hands full!"

"Same here!" Natasha shouted, currently somersaulting away from the Cowboy. Sam and Wanda were locked in battle with the bug lady and the sorcerer and Clint was feverishly trying to nail the lizard to the wall.

The Police Officers were hopelessly outmatched too, and they couldn't get a clear shot at the attacking mutants.

Okay, he had to do this on his own.

Steve scowled and glared at the Aztec, waiting for him to do something. The Kahn smirked now, summoning another fire disk to fling it at the Captain. Steve dodged the attack and swerved around a pillar of light to reach the Aztec, slamming his shield with all power into his flanks. He managed to throw him off balance again, so he continued with throwing punches at the man's sides in the hope to break a few ribs.

Even if he could heal himself, it would be highly unpleasant to have a few broken bones.

Kotal hissed as at least one or two bones snapped under the force of Steve's blows, so he retaliated by slamming his elbow into Cap's direction. Steve pulled back before diving at the man and tackling him, throwing his entire body weight against him.

It seemed as if Kotal Kahn didn't expect something like this, so he was subsequently thrown off his feet. He growled and jerked his knees up, kicking the soldier off him and flinging him through the air. Before Steve got back down though, Kotal threw a nasty uppercut into his direction and literally punched him a bit higher.

Steve hissed and twisted his body, so he delivered a devastating kick against the Aztec's shoulders. He used his momentum to jump off the man's shoulders and bring some distance between them.

He spun back around to face his opponent once more, gritting his teeth.

Kotal was smirking unpleasantly. "I shall silence you know, boy", he declared, lifting his hand skywards.

Steve waited for another of those fiery disks, but the Kahn didn't throw one.

Instead, a pillar of light hit the Captain with full force, making him stagger back and shield his eyes from the brightness.

He wasn't entirely sure what made him risk a glance, but he only had a split second to see the man shoot towards him, dagger pointed directly at his throat. Swearing, Steve tried to dive to the side, but he was too slow. Kotal slammed the knife so deep into the Soldier's injured shoulder it broke through his flesh on the other side.

Steve howled in pain, but the Kahn wasn't finished yet. He grabbed the handle and the tip of the blade and wrenched it sideways, snapping the Captain's collarbone and part of his shoulder before he pulled back and delivered a brutal knee to the man's chest, shattering his sternum.

Steve reeled back. His blood was roaring in his ears and his heart slammed madly into his bruised ribs, but he wasn't going to give up. Weakened from the pain, he whacked his shield into the Aztec and stumbled back, panting harshly.

Blood rushed out from the wound on his shoulder, dying his suit purple and dripping to the concrete beneath.

He wasn't going to fall, though.

He noticed how Kotal approached him, sheathing his dagger once more. Then he charged.

He dug his fist into the injury, making the Captain groan loudly in pain and drop his shield in favor for trying to grab his wrist. Kotal brushed it off as he slammed his open palm into the soldier's face.

Golden Energy shot through Steve's brain, making him moan in pain.

"On your knees", the Emperor snarled, digging his fingers a bit harder into the Captain's face. Steve tried to resist, but the charge that shot through his brain took all control away from him and his shoulder just _hurt_ so much!

He felt his legs buckle under the brutal strength of the Aztec, so he dropped to the ground, kneeling in front of Kotal Kahn.

The Kahn suddenly yanked, throwing the Captain through the air to smash him into the floor behind him, releasing him.

Steve let out a gasp, trying to get air into his lungs, but Kotal wouldn't let him. He raised both fists over his head and slammed them hard into the Captain's chest, caving it in and stunning him once more.

The Super Soldier grunted in pain as he tried to struggle back upright, but the Kahn seized him roughly on his shoulders, yanking him back off the floor and holding him over his head.

A pillar of light and fire hit the Captain with full force, causing a scream to tear itself out of his throat as heat burned through his flesh.

There was only searing pain.

Luckily, after a moment of being torched, Kotal Kahn flung Steve to the ground, leaving him in a smoldering wreck on the floor. The Captain wheezed, trying to climb back to his feet, but a strong foot planted itself on his back, pushing him back down while there was the distinct sound of metal scraping.

He felt the man shift above him before pain erupted from his back, making him shriek in agony. Steve didn't need to see to know what just happened: Kotal Kahn had stabbed his dagger straight into his spine.

Kotal pulled his knife back out of the man and roughly flipped him over, staring at him with golden glowing eyes.

"You were a worthy opponent, I give you that", he said slowly, "But I won the Kombat."

Steve could hear his friends shout in panic and he saw the Emperor bring his dagger down on his chest.

* * *

Thunder boomed across the Lanxess Arena, making everybody jump. The dagger was halted suddenly as a hand, coated in lightning, that wrapped around Kotal's wrist.

The Emperor whipped his head to the side, staring in surprise at whoever just dared to stop him.  
Steve coughed weakly, trying to focus on the man despite his hurting head.

It was a tall man, garbed in blue and white Chinese clothes with a large flat straw hat on his head.

"This is enough, Ko'atal", the man growled, lightning racing across his body and shooting out of his eyes. Steve wasn't sure who he was, only that he felt immensely _powerful_ , more than even Thor.

"Raiden", Kotal Kahn growled with poorly hidden rage in his voice.

"You end this now", the Chinese man ordered. "Rain and Tanya have already fled. There is no need to stay in Earthrealm any longer."

"These mortals dared to attack the Emperor", Kotal sneered. "They dared to attack my soldiers and allowed the traitors to flee."

"Steve Rogers and his team had no idea of their crimes against the people of Outworld", Raiden explained slowly, "In their eyes, you and your men tried to massacre fleeing victims." His glare intensified. "Leave now, Ko'atal, for those you seek are gone. Your very presence here is a violation of the Reiko accords."

The Kahn snarled, but took an obedient step back anyways. Steve saw his men retreat as well, moving back to their leader. All of them looked pretty worn-down too. "You got lucky, boy", Kotal growled. "Without your God's intervention, I would have sent you to the Netherrealm."

He turned, waving his hand to conjure a massive purple pulsating portal. "If you dare to attack me or those that represent me a second time, I will not let anybody stop me."

The Kahn walked away, passing through the gate with his team in tow.

Raiden stood there, glaring at their retreating backs until the portal collapsed into itself. Only then the lightning dancing around his body vanished and he turned a rueful glance at Steve. "I am sorry, Steve Rogers", he said, "For not arriving sooner."

"Who are you?" Bucky hissed, limping over to the Captain.

"I am Raiden", the man explained to him, "The God of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm. I was...occupied, sadly, so I could not clear up this sooner."

He crouched down, watching Steve. "You faced the Emperor of Outworld, not knowing his powers and you still tried to defeat him to protect strangers. Your heart is in the right place, my son. Your wounds are deep, but you shall heal from them once again."

Natasha was approaching too. "The Germans have already called for an ambulance", she said. "Don't worry, you'll get medical attention."

"I can imagine that you have a lot of questions", Raiden pointed out. "Once you return to your Director Fury, turn to General Sonya Blade for answers." He moved away a few steps. "I sadly cannot linger here any longer, for I have to return to the Sky Temple. Rest assured that I will have words with Ko'atal. Farewell."

He lifted his hand and vanished with a mighty thunder clap.

The field was drowned in silence until the Highway Patrol Police man snapped.

"Was zur Hölle war _das_ gerade?!"

* * *

 **Author: And the Winner isssssss...Kotal Kahn!**

 **Before anybody says anything, let's look at the facts, shall we? Steve and Kotal have about the same strength, so from their power alone none of them would be able to beat the other. Now, Steve is faster in both movement and reaction time than Kotal, plus he is less prone to get exhausted than the Osh-Tekk. Steve could technically wear the Kahn down and beat him up as soon he can't move anymore. Also, he does not give up easily and has a lot of willpower to finish a battle, so he tends to ignore the wounds he has.  
Kotal did have more training than Steve. He is at least over a thousand years old and he IS an Outworlder, where they like to solve problems with violence. Kotal has more experience in brawling than Steve, and he is also much more ruthless. Hell, his X-Ray Move consists in him stabbing the fuck out of his opponent's throat and then snap his spine without so much as blinking an eye.  
Against his extremely brutal ways of battle, Steve looks very tame. This, combined with Kotal's ability to gain strength when using the Blood God or Sun God mode, allows the Osh-Tekk to get the upper hand in Kombat, and when you take in account his immense boost in abilities via Sun God Mode, Kotal can easily dispatch of Steve. However, as soon it gets dark and Kotal loses this buff, this could easily be reverted, though in this instance, Kotal won.**

 **German translations:**

" _Sie sind nun in Sicherheit_ _"_ means _"You are in safety now"_ , or _"You are safe now"_

" _Mann! Das war das geilste, dass ich je erlebt habe!"_ has a bit of slang in it. It means as much as _"Dude! That was the most awesome thing I ever experienced!"_

" _Semir! Aussprache!"_ means _"Semir! Language!"_

" _Vorfall an der Lanxess Arena am Willy-Brandt-Platz! Ich wiederhole: Alle verfügbaren Einheiten zum Willy-Brandt-Platz! Es gibt Personenschäden_ _!"_ This is a bit longer. Basically, it is police jargon. Translated it says about as this: _"Incident at the Lanxess-Arena at the Willy-Brandt-Platz! I repeat: Every available unit to the Willy-Brandt-Platz! There have been people harmed!"_ The Lanxess-Arena and the Willy-Brandt-Platz are two real-life locations in Cologne, where this story takes place.

" _Hier Cobra 11. Ich brauch mehr Informationen. Was geht da vor sich?!"_ Semir's reaction. He says: _"Here is Cobra 11_ (his designation). _I need more information. What is going on there?!"_

" _Die Anrufer berichten von einer Gruppe von...Mutanten...die plötzlich aus dem Nichts aufgetaucht sind und eine andere Gruppe attackieren. Den Berichten zufolge gibt es bereits_ _Tote!"_ This is a description of what happened. _"The callers report about a group of...mutants...that have appeared out of nowhere and are attacking another group. According to the reports, there are already dead individuals!"_

" _Scheiße!"_ means _"Shit!"_ Though according to the new grammar rules, it should be written with ss instead of ß, but that looks just stupid.

" _Was zur Hölle war das gerade?!"_ Oh Semir, you like to swear, do you? It means _"What the hell has this been about?!"_


	3. Cross vs Voldemort

**Author: Round 2. Who will win? Will Voldemort's Death Eaters put their name to glory for taking out _Blackwatch_ , or are they going to have to change their name to Lead Eaters?**

 **I think it is obvious who's going to win this, still it was fun to write and there are a bunch of cameos and OCs in it, too.  
**

 **Beware, strong language.**

* * *

Cross glanced around the very dirty inn he and his team were currently occupying. By the general state of _decay_ this place was in, it would have been open to assumption how long it was already abandoned. However, the Wisemen Team's own scout had explained to them that this place was, in fact, still open for business.

It just looked and smelled like a dump.

The landlord who owned the place didn't appear any better. He looked like he hadn't washed for the past few _years_ , his glasses were so dirty they could have acted as sun shades and he generally stank of goats.

Cross wondered whether all of these... _people_...were like this, or whether it was just his unfortunate luck to keep ending up with the repulsive ones.

The young Captain scowled at the dirty mug on the table in front of him and the questionable looking stuff in it. It was the local Pumpkin juice, MacAlistair said, and probably the only drink here strong enough to kick a grown Blackwatch Soldier on their ass, but Cross honestly didn't feel anything at the moment.

He hadn't felt any of the promised effect for the past few _months_ , and even though his Team had managed to eventually deal with all of this shit going on, it didn't mean that he had to like it. Hell, his entire world view had done a fucking 180-degree flip ever since the Wisemen Team arrived here in this poor excuse for a town where they made their base to work on their mission.

But it wasn't what he expected from his first solo mission. His first mission as the leader of the Wisemen Team was supposed to crack down some fucked-up Runner, not sit his ass down in the middle of the Scottish wastes and _do nothing_.

Oh, he did remember the night Randall came to him and his team and told them of their mission.

 _It was December the first, 1997. Robert Cross, Captain to the Blackwatch Wisemen Team had just finished training with his team when the General appeared, looking as if some infected Fucker had pissed into his coffee._

" _Cross", he called out, drawing the Specialist's attention. Cross snapped his heels together and folded his arms behind his back, waiting for orders._

" _You knew you were going to be a leader, ever since we scraped you out of that Hellhole of Springfield." Cross winced at those memories internally, since Springfield was his first meeting with Infected. He had lost his entire team back then and nearly his own life too, but when he managed to escape, Randall was waiting for him and took him in. That had been only a year prior, and Cross had spent most of his time sticking around Blackwatch and getting to know the team assigned to him. He quickly noticed that they were misfits, but they were good in what they did, so Blackwatch did not 'retire' them early._

 _It was Cross' team and he felt responsible for them._

 _Randall cleared his throat. "Captain, you got a mission", he declared._

 _Cross arched his eyebrows, but said nothing. He still wasn't very trusted by the other leaders of Blackwatch, since he used to be in the U.S. Army just the year prior. "Nothing dangerous", Randall claimed, "Just...you and the Wisemen Team are to go to the British-Scottish border, guard a Boarding School."_

" _Sir?" Cross asked. "Did you just say 'boarding school'?"_

 _Randall grunted. "I did, Captain. Seems there are terrorists going to attack there."_

" _Why Blackwatch? Wouldn't the British Army be better suited for this?"_

" _It's because the headmaster went to me, since there is one of their former students here." The General cleared his throat and picked up his voice. "MacAlistair!"_

" _Sir!"_

 _The Blackwatch scout quickly jogged up to Cross and the General. He was the Wisemen Team's best scout, checking the situation ahead and returning with the intel. Cross knew him well, since he was from Britain, just like the Specialist originally. Just, unlike Cross, MacAlistair still looked and behaved every bit British._

" _February last year I had a visitor", the General explained to them. "Old man, said he was the headmaster of some school."_

" _And?" MacAlistair had his brows furrowed._

" _Said_ _ **you**_ _were his student once, though he went to me because I am your superior."_

" _Professor Dumbledore was here?" MacAlistair suddenly cut in, "Unbelievable!"_

 _Randall glared at the Brit. "He was", he grumbled, "Said that things were going south and they needed your help with some terrorists. But he also said he was going to write a letter once they actually needed your help." He shrugged, pulling out a letter, handing it over to the Scout. "Well, he has some powerful friends, I can tell you", the General concluded, "Because the_ _ **British Prime Minister**_ _was on this thing too. He persuaded my bosses to get Blackwatch in gear, and here we are."_

 _Randall made a clicking noise with his cheek. "Captain, you have sixty hours to get ready for this mission."_

 _Cross had complied and called his team together, all together ten, including him and MacAlistair._

 _There were Seeley Booth and Craig Boone, both excellent snipers and former U.S. Army soldiers, though Booth had expressed his desire to get a more comfortable job in the FBI. Amanda Hist was the only female in their troop and one of the few female Blackwatch soldiers, and when wearing her bulky Blackwatch uniform, she could also pass for a man. Rodrigo Fernandez and Julio Estoban were their heavy gunners and both ventured illegally into the States, though Blackwatch took them in. Martin Hoffmann, a German who went to America in search for employment, was their engineer. The two main gunners Ty and Dave Jackson were brothers from Harlem, having grown up in poor conditions, though their toughness and ruthlessness made them perfect Blackwatch soldiers._

 _Cross briefed them about Randall's orders and quickly snuffed out any questions that might have arisen. "Just get ready, we can get more information out of Ian here later. Dismissed."_

 _The Wisemen, though a bunch of misfits, were loyal and unquestioning towards their Captain, so they quickly moved out and collected whatever they might need. Cross exhaled and marched off. He had to find a telephone and tell his wife that he might not be around for Christmas. It wasn't what he liked to do, but then again, Sophia would understand._

Now it was nearly May now. Cross scowled. He really wanted to get back home to his wife, back to normal people, not these nutjobs here. But it couldn't be helped. The Wisemen Team had a mission, and they were going to finish it, no matter how weird things got.

And things went from 'weird' to 'downright fucking insane' within a few hours.

'Weird' was already when the Wisemen Team arrived at the London airport and got a letter carried to them by an _owl_ , that told them to meet them at the 'Leaky Cauldron' in the Charing Cross Road.

'Fucking Insane' it became when their contact revealed to be a _cat_ of all things. Or better, an older woman who had _transformed_ into a cat.

As the Wisemen Team learnt quickly, Magic did exist. Wizards and Witches had indeed their own little community and were currently fighting a war against a dark Wizard, in which there were also 'Muggle' –non-magical people- casualties.

Cross had never needed a drink more badly than he had needed now. Sure, he has seen his fair share of fucked-up situations, all ahead the Infection in Springfield that cost him his team before he went to Blackwatch, but this seriously was the cherry on top.

And it didn't just end there. The woman, a professor McGonagall, head of the Gryffindor house of the Magical Boarding School Hogwarts, had told them that it was the late Headmaster's last Will for Ian MacAlistair and his team to help them protect Hogwarts. Since there was some magical voodoo shit included in that Will, even the new Headmaster and his staff couldn't object to that order, and thus Cross and the Wisemen were called in.

More even, MacAlistair himself, one of the most efficient scouts of Blackwatch, was a Wizard who studied in Hogwarts.

" _Used to be in Slytherin, you know"_ , he had told them that night in the Leaky Cauldron, _"Was one of the best. But I come from one of those families that pursue pure blood. You know, incest, marriage amongst cousins, hatred for all who are 'impure', having non-magical blood in their veins, utter arrogance towards non-magical folks, that kind of stuff. I was so sick of all of it that I grabbed my stuff once I came of age and left this bunch of motherfuckers behind when I hauled my ass out of England. I did what I saw as the biggest 'Fuck you' to the entire family that I could think of: I became Blackwatch."_ He admitted that he did use magic from time to time though, like teleport out of dangerous situations or the usage of smaller spells, but in total, he acted like Blackwatch.

At the very least, they did have intel over these terrorists, a bunch of so-called 'Death Eaters' (Hist commented that once they are finished with them, they have to be re-christened 'Lead Eaters' laughing as if she made a particularly funny joke), and MacAlistair completed their data with more information he gathered.

As it stood, the Death Eaters were a bunch of fucked-up inbred racists who viewed everything as below them. Normally, Blackwatch didn't care much about the views of other people and they really weren't an anti-terrorist organization, but even they had standards.

And torturing _children_ or blowing up civilians was seriously pushing it.

It was hypocrisy really. Cross knew only too well that Blackwatch murdered children and civilians as well, but they _**never**_ put this under the target of Blood Purity and racial supremacy. Their job was to contain a fucking Infection, and if there had to be sacrifices to protect the remaining population, then fuck it. They were gonna do that. Public opinion be damned.

At the moment their orders were to prevent the terrorists from taking over the Boarding School, so this was what they were going to do.

So MacAlistair took the team with him after New Years to the King's Cross Station in London and showed them the way to the platform Nine-three-quarters- by walking straight through a solid wall. Yes, Wizards had their own train, and it was one of the easiest ways to transport ten Blackwatch soldiers complete with equipment.

Once they arrived at the Hogsmeade station, MacAlistair was handed a letter by the conductor that told them to head to the Hog's Head Inn for lodging.

Which was where they were currently.

Cross glared at the dirt and grime he became familiar with over the past few months and he still couldn't stand. He wondered whether this was a wizard thing to enjoy living in dirt (they barely had modern plumbing and no electricity to speak of, after all) or whether it was this particular inn owner only.

The school of Hogwarts was a lot cleaner, after all, but seemingly not very homely as more and more kids began appearing in the Hog's Head inn to get food from the landlord.

MacAlistair asked them what was the meaning of this and one of them, some Longbottom or something, told them that they were hiding from their violent Muggle Studies teachers, who were Death Eaters.

Cross was concerned that they might blab to their bosses, but after an initial meeting with them he concluded that they were just as arrogant fuckers as the rest of them, so they wouldn't even recognize a nuclear warhead directly beneath their noses.

Plus the remaining staff, McGonagall at the very front, they actually helped the Wisemen to do their job while keeping the heat off their backs.

It looked like the kids and the staff began warming up to them.

So the Wisemen Team was doing their job: Sweeping the school and the school grounds for threats during the day, while updating their superiors and gathering intel from the students during the night.

In return, several of the Blackwatch members were allowed to meet with the teens (called 'Dumbledore's Army') and showed them a few tricks. Hoffmann showed them how to operate a radio correctly, while Estoban and the Jackson brothers taught them hand-to-hand combat, which was quite useful should they find themselves disarmed.

So at the night to the 1st of May, there was quite a commotion down in the town of Hogsmeade. Cross scowled at the dark-cloaked figures running about. He really, really, really wanted to put a bullet into each of their brains, but he knew that at the moment they still had to lay low. Their chance was coming soon, MacAlistair told him, even though he too wished for nothing more than to bathe each of these fuckers in Hellfire. The landlord of the inn had vanished for a moment and upon his return, he brought three teenagers with him.

The name 'Harry Potter' meant nothing to the Wisemen Team, but they were aware that this kid was probably the key to everything.

When dawn came and the kids had already left via a hidden tunnel, Cross stood in the dirty dinner room and just finished checking his rifle before he turned to his team.

"That's it", he declared. "Starting today we will annihilate every last fucking Death Eater who dares to show his face in Hogwarts. It doesn't matter how many there are and it doesn't matter what they can do. We _**will**_ stop them! We _**will**_ take them down, even if we die alongside with them. None of them are to survive!" He slammed a fresh magazine into his assault rifle. "We are Blackwatch! We _**will**_ hold the Red Line!"

* * *

As the Wisemen Team arrived in Hogwarts, they found the castle already taken back from the Death Eaters. The two fucked-up teacher siblings had been immobilized by McGonagall, while the Headmaster had escaped.

"Hist! Hoffman! Jacksons!" Cross barked, "Ready the perimeter defense, then get back to me! Booth, Boone, you get into position! Make sure you can't be seen from ground level, if necessary, get someone who can stop a fucking spell! Estoban, Fernandez! You make sure your toys are working properly!" He then spun to glare at MacAlistair. "MacAlistair! You stay close to me, got it?!"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" The Blackwatch soldiers barked in unison before scrambling off. Cross turned back to McGonagall, who had already rallied every student fifteen or older and had gathered a large amount of civilian-looking witches and wizards. All of them looked rather disturbed at his team, since they were wearing their full gears, complete with their M249 Light Machine Guns and their full-body black uniforms with helmets sans the masks. "The Wisemen Team is ready, Ma'am", he told her. "It is our duty to hold this line and we are prepared to die if necessary."

"What?" A red-haired civilian Witch piped up, "Nobody has to die if we manage to make it right."

Cross turned to her, eyes narrowing. "With all due respect, Ma'am, but Blackwatch is made of scum. There is no great loss if any of us kicks the bucket, but we are not going to go without taking some of these fuckers with us."

"Albus put his trust in you", McGonagall told them, "But we are still going to assist you."

"Piertotum Locomotor?" MacAlistair questioned with glowing eyes. "Fuck Yeah. I haven't seen that ever since you demonstrated it in class!"

"Ten points to Slytherin. I just wish there were more like you in that house", McGonagall grinned, waving her wand. Instantly, all the statues and suits of armors inside the castle came to life and came marching out of the building, moving to stand besides the wizards.

"Now that's fucking awesome!" Hist commented as she and the others moved to stand besides their Captain.

"We are your first line of defense", Cross reminded the wizards. "None of you are to interfere with us or our methods as long I don't give you explicit orders, got it?" He snarled and placed his machine gun across his back. "From now on, until the enemy is either wiped out or the Wisemen Team has been eliminated, this is under Blackwatch supervision. We will finish this job one way or the other."

" _Heads up, Boss"_ , Booth's voice came through Cross' radio, _"Bad dudes are approaching."_

"Fan out!" Cross ordered, turning around to face the entrance of the courtyard. "Form a perimeter!" The Wisemen Team moved to stand in a half-circle in front of the occupants of Hogwarts, aiming their machine guns at the entrance. Several suits of armor were between the single soldiers, since they would make great shields if necessary. As the air grew heavier, the suits moved a bit so they hid the Wisemen amongst their ranks.

Cross was glaring at the rapidly approaching dark cloud with no apparent emotions.

In a flood of dark fog and smoke the Death Eaters appeared in the courtyard. The many lights dimmed for a moment when massive, previously invisible magical shields began to crumble away with the dark Wizard's appearance.

The Specialist narrowed his eyes as he estimated the total amount of attackers. He concluded that there were more than a hundred of the dark-robed Supremacist bastards, a few dozen _giants_ and several of those floating black bathrobes. Not that they had any great effect on his Blackwatch Soldiers, since during combat they were expected to distance themselves from their emotions so they could do their job more efficient.

Still, the Specialist could hear the sharp intake of breath from MacAlistair as the apparent leader of the Death Eaters stepped to the front. He was a pale man, thin and tall, with no hair, slit-like nose and reptilian eyes. A giant snake was currently unfurling from his frame to slither to the floor.

Cross narrowed his eyes on the bald man, who glanced over the crowd.

Suddenly a girl in the background started screaming. The Wisemen didn't turn, didn't leave the Death Eaters out of their sight, though from the corner of his eyes Cross could see them scowl harder.

And he heard a sharp whisper in the back of his mind. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that the voice came from the pale guy in front of them. So this was this famous 'Voldemort', a wizard so terrible that everybody cowered in fear from him.

" _I know that you are preparing to fight"_ , the man said, glancing at the animated suits of armor, _"Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me."_

Cross heard MacAlistair hiss under his breath when the dark Wizard continued. _"I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."_ He paused again to make sure that everybody was listening. _"Give me Harry Potter and they shall not be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until Midnight."_

Cross scoffed. He glanced at MacAlistair, who eyed back. Their gazes locked for a moment until the Scout gave a tiny nod.

Then the Specialist stepped to the front, picking up his voice.

"We don't negotiate with _terrorists_ "

In an instant, all of the Death Eaters had turned their attention towards him and the group of nine black-clad soldiers moving back to the front. Cross hadn't given a signal yet, so they kept the muzzles of their guns to the ground, but were ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

With amusement, Cross saw the look of sheer disgust run over the dark Wizard's face. The Specialist retaliated with a mocking grin of his own. "Yeah, I know. You're wondering why the fuck is there a bunch of dirty Muggles here and ready to face you. Didn't your little spies tell you everything about us? We're here under Headmaster Dumbledore's orders." The Blackwatch Captain smirked at the wizard. "And we will honor his last Will."

"Was Dumbledore such a dotard that he called for dirty _Muggles_ to do his bidding? Did he honestly believe that you stand a chance against me? I am the most powerful dark Wizard!"

"Yeah, count how many fucks I give", Cross gave back. He rolled his shoulders, glaring at the dark Lord. "Normally it isn't Blackwatch's job to kill terrorists, but I guess your supremacy and inbred narrow worldview can be counted as highly infectious and threatening to the people, so I am willing to make an exception."

The Captain retrieved his Stun Baton and activated it, dragging the sparking tip through the dirt in front of them. "This is the Red Line", he declared, "And I am willing to give you a chance. You pull your fucking inbred asses off this school area and stop being such racists, but rather be a good little boy and skip back home."

Voldemort was getting irritated. His long claw-like fingers clenched around his wand as his eyes narrowed on the human in front of him. Cross knew that he was walking on very thin ice at the moment.

"And if I refuse to bow to a Muggle?" the Wizard hissed.

"Then Blackwatch will kill you. Simple as that." He tapped his radio. "You see this? I have a dozen Blackhawks just a few miles away from this position. The very moment I or any of my Team members stops giving hourly updates, they will lock in on this place and eradicate everything with Hellfire Missiles." His eyes narrowed. "And I mean _everything_. None of you would be able to survive this."

"You can't be so desperate to endanger the children-" the Wizard began, but was cut off.

"When we hunt, we kill! No one is safe! Nothing is sacred!" Cross snapped. "We are Blackwatch! We are the last line of defense! We will burn our own to hold the Red Line! It is the last line to ever hold!" Cross scowled at Voldemort. "We do not fuck around! When we are told to kill you motherfuckers, then we aren't even going to ask why." He whipped his hand up, showing a small joystick to the Death Eaters before he jabbed his thumb down on the red button on its top.

A series of explosions tore through the night and made the whole of Hogwarts shake. Several giant balls of fire had erupted all around the Death Eaters with violent roars of super-heated air. Those unfortunate enough to stand right on top of the booby traps got literally vaporized, while those further away were torn to shreds.

Body parts were flung through the ranks of the Death Eaters and several of them ended up crippled.

Before the Death Eaters could react, the Wisemen had lifted their M249 Light Machine Guns and had begun firing into the crowd, emptying their magazines within moments.

The first two rows of Death Eaters crumpled to the floor, though Cross had ordered his team to _not_ target the center group around Voldemort.

Within seconds, the Wisemen Team had taken out nearly a fifth of the overall amount of soldiers Voldemort had brought with him while the remaining terrorists scrambled around in panic.

The Dark Lord retaliated almost immediately. He whirled around, thrusting his wand to the front.

" _Avada Kedavra!"_ Cross swore and brought up his arm-mounted Grenade Launcher in the last second. The green streak of light hit the gauntlet and completely shattered it, as well as the bones in the Captain's arm. The Specialist was also flung through the air from the impact, and hit the floor with a grunt.

However, the Grenade Launcher had swallowed up the Killing Curse, breaking in the process but saving its owners life.

" _Expelliarmus!"_ Alistair shouted behind his Captain and a flash of crimson shot out of the stick he was holding in front of his body. Voldemort hissed and created another spell, causing both lights to collide in a brilliant ball of light.

"Sir?! Are you alright?!"

"I am", Cross growled, climbing back to his feet. He noticed how the Death Eaters were now shooting different colored lights at his Wisemen Team, who quickly dodged behind the suits of armor while hastily re-loading. The Wizards and Witches of Hogwarts had joined in the fray, shooting various bolts of energy at the Death Eaters.

The Specialist growled at their blatant disregard of his orders, but he quickly locked eyes with a dark-haired Death Eater Witch. He lifted his right hand, pointing at the woman.

"How dare you!" the Witch shouted, thrusting her wand to the front. _"Crucio!"_ She shrieked and a red beam of light hit Cross. The man snarled through the pain erupting from his chest, but he remained stubborn, reaching for his M9 Berretta.

Suddenly, the witch's head exploded like a melon, a moment before the crack of the gunshot was heard on the ground.

A second Death Eater went down with another crack the very moment MacAlistair dove to the side to allow Voldemort's curse to hit a suit of armor.

A series of explosions shook the ground around them, drawing the Captain's attention to where Fernandez and Estoban had managed to bring their heavy guns into position, shooting Javelin Missiles and Grenades at the magical terrorists, blowing them to smithereens. Hist and Hoffmann had re-loaded their machine guns and were shooting at the Death Eaters, while the Jackson siblings had switched to their M4 Carbines.

Voldemort was moving again, shooting a painful light towards Cross who felt a rib snap and dig painfully into his lung. Voldemort roughly hoisted him up on his collar. For a guy looking so frail, the Dark Wizard really had some serious upper body strength.

"What have you done, filthy Muggle?!" Voldemort hissed enraged.

"You mean the firework?" Cross quipped back. "That was just some good ol' C4 hidden around and detonated" He smirked, licking off the blood trailing down the corner of his lips. "Or do you mean your bitch?" He chuckled. "I have snipers on the roof who can kill you without you even _hearing_ the shot."

Voldemort flinched back, red eyes whipping to the towers to search for the hidden Blackwatch Snipers. Cross smiled grimly as he pressed his M9 against the Wizard's wrist.

"Gotcha."

He squeezed the trigger.

The bullet tore through Voldemort's arm, making him drop the Captain. Before he could grab his wand with the other hand, Cross put another bullet through the other wrist.

Voldemort stumbled back, staring in horror at the black-clad human in front of him, but he couldn't retreat fast enough when the Specialist put two more bullets into either leg, making him drop to his knees.

By now, the other Death Eaters had stopped their assault and were staring in terror at their Master kneeling in front of the Blackwatch Captain.

Several of them tried to jump to his aide, but were gunned down fast by either the snipers or the others of the Wisemen Team.

Several members also tried to teleport away, but they didn't manage to get very far before the anti-Teleport charms MacAlistair had installed beforehand kicked in.

"Do you know why you are losing?" Cross asked, leveling his M9 with Voldemort's forehead. "It is because in your fucked-up arrogance you believed that we non-magical people were _weak_. You thought we were easy prey." His eyes narrowed and he pulled the hammer back. "Newsflash: We are no longer weak."

He pulled the trigger.

A single loud gunshot silenced the entire courtyard of Hogwarts. Hundreds of eyes watched in stunned terror how Voldemort's body reeled backwards, hitting the ground with a dull _thud_.

Cross slowly lowered his gun and lifted his head, glaring at the remaining Death Eaters. As he passed over the corpse of his enemy, he shot another bullet into the wizard's head to make sure he stayed down, before he waved his gun towards the terrorists.

"Round them up!" He ordered in a loud voice. "Anybody who does not comply will be shot." He kicked the headless body of the Witch. "Somebody pile these fuckers together and burn them! I don't want any of their taint left!"

* * *

 **Author: And the Winner is...Blackwatch and its Captain Robert Cross!**

 **Sure, Voldemort and the Death Eaters are way more powerful. With the shit-load of spells and charms they could have easily overpowered and incapacitated the Wisemen Team.**

 **But the Death Eaters are so stuck-up in their own asses that they could look out of their own mouths. They would never even think that a bunch of Muggles could take them out, and this is their downfall. In their arrogance they believe that they are untouchable, but they ignore everything non-magical people have made. Sure, at the begin of the 19** **th** **century wizards were still a lot more powerful than Muggles, but that changed with the invention of large-scale warfare. I doubt that any wizard has a chance to react to a sniper putting a bullet between their eyes across a distance of half a mile.**

 **And Blackwatch has the best and the most ruthless members. If anybody can take out the Death Eaters, it's them. Let's not forget that their men just keep throwing themselves at Alex instead of trying to run, so they even have a suicide wish.**

 **And Cross is the most badass of them all. After all, he defeated Alex once. Voldemort never stood a chance.**


	4. Justice League vs Silver Surfer

**Author: Round 3. Who will win? The Justice League of America, or the Silver Surfer, Herald of Galactus?  
**

 **I used the Young Justice Justice League, because there aren't so many people in it like the DCAU Justice League has. I think Surfer is the post-Annihilation one.**

* * *

 _25th May, 2011  
Mount Justice_

Crime has been low for the past four days. Major crimes were practically non-existent. Bruce was wary, knowing that this was but the calm before the storm. He knew that their enemies were going to do something incredibly dangerous. Something that would require the entire League to be at their ready.

He ignored Hal's comment that perhaps the bad guys were just enjoying this nice weather. Those that stand at the other side of justice don't do vacations.

Or, at least, he kept telling himself that. Robin then would throw his arms up in the air and walk away dramatically, muttering something about 'having a dense paranoid dad'.

But Bruce knew that in the end, he was always right.

He effortlessly dodged a well-aimed punch coming from Kid Flash, then flipped over the Superman Clone approaching him from behind. Superboy anticipated this move and suddenly swung around, grabbing the Kid Flash and flinging him right at the Dark Knight. The Batman had a split second to take in the teen's wide grin before they collided, knocking the older right off balance. Robin was suddenly there, drop-kicking the Dark Knight towards the ground, where Superboy was already waiting to pin him.

The children had learnt well.

"Okay", Superman's voice droned out, "Good job. You took down the Batman." The Kryptonian floated down to the mass of limbs on the ground and effortlessly pried his clone off the Dark Knight to allow him climbing back to his feet.

"Using a team mate as projectile", Bruce began, glancing at Wally and Connor, "Is something that never happened before." His lips twitched up a bit. "I'm impressed."

"Yussss" Kid Flash cheered, "You heard that, Supey? The big scary Bat complimented us!"

"I heard it", Superboy commented dryly. "I would have heard you from the other side of the bay. You don't have to scream, you know."

Batman brushed the sand off his dark suit and turned to the Team. "It can be improved still", he pointed out, but quickly caught Superman's glare. "But you did a good job today", he finished without ever changing his tone.

The teenagers whooped and high-fived each other.

The Dark Knight watched them. He was still wary about having children fight their battles without any adult supervision, but he also knew he couldn't lock them away from reality. So all he could do was train them to survive.

He glanced at Red Tornado, who seemed to be...somewhat spaced out. It was a strange term, seeing as the hero was a sentient machine and couldn't space out like living beings could, but something seemed to be on his mind.

"Red Tornado", he called out. "What is on your mind?"

"I cannot explain", the android stated, "But the Watchtower's long-range sensors have picked something up at the outer part of Pluto's orbit just one minute ago."

"And?"

"It is moving illogical towards the forces of gravity. And it is moving fast." The robot glanced at the Dark Knight. "Towards Earth."

"What?!" Superman was besides them in an instant. "How fast?"

"It has passed Jupiter, racing through the asteroid belt as we speak."

"Impossible!" John gasped, "That's 36 times the distance Earth-Sun within less than one and a half minute?!"

"What in the world can move that fast?!" Hal asked worried.

"I do not know", Red Tornado commented, "But it has arrived in Earth's orbit."

Suddenly the temperature dropped rapidly, freezing the entire bay within moments. Batman heard Rocket swear as she stumbled back. "My belt's down!" the young teen cursed, "And I mean really down!"

Robin's voice cut in, complaining that all tech he had with him failed completely and at the same moment.

Batman's eyes narrowed as Red Tornado swayed. "Warning", the robot declared, "Energy levels spiking. Proceed with emergency power off." The android simply dropped to the ground, not moving anymore.

"Holy shit!" Kid Flash swore, "Tornado's three times protected against energy spikes! What in the world can knock him outta his boots?"

"This thing, apparently", Superman growled, drawing their attention towards the white-glowing meteoroid that shot towards them. The Kryptonian was about to rush into its direction to catch it, when the meteorite suddenly slowed down and changed trajectory, stopping right above them.

"Justice League of America", a booming voice declared, "You will come with me and answer to your crimes."

The Heroes stared.

It wasn't a meteorite.

It was a _man_ , or at least it looked like a man.

He stood tall, over six feet and nearly the same size as Superman, though his body was lean, like Flash's. Batman narrowed his eyes. On the first glance, it looked like this man (?) was wearing a skin-tight silver suit, but it became quickly obvious that he was, in fact, nude and had a silver _skin_. His eyes were narrowed as he watched the Justice League, not moving from the perch he was on: A silver... _surf board._

Or it looked like a silver surf board.

"The Silver Surfer!" Guy Gardner gasped. In an instant, all attention was on the Green Lantern. Batman frowned when he saw the other Lanterns staring with the same terrified expression at the Surfer.

"Impossible", John whispered, "The Herald of Galactus."

"Uh?" Flash asked, "What is a Galactus?"

"The _Devourer of Worlds_!" Hal snapped, his Ring flaring up, "And this dude is the one who leads him to planets to _eat_!"

"He beat up Kyle once", Guy added, his own Ring glowing. "We cannot allow him to stay!"

"We gotta get him off the Planet to show his boss that you don't screw with us!" Hal snarled.

The Surfer merely furrowed his brows. "My service to my Master has nothing to do with the current situation", he explained in a serious tone. "However, it appears you do not understand the gravity of my presence here." Batman noticed energy surging through the Surfer's silver body as his voice dropped. "I am saddened, but it appears I will have to persuade you using force."

His body unleashed the energy he gathered in a powerful blast. The three Lanterns had thrown up a shield immediately, only that this construct was about as helpful as a wet tissue in a rock slide.

The Surfer's attack tore through the green shields as if they weren't even there in the first place and send most of the Justice League members flying. Even Superman had troubles standing his ground, though he merely slid across the floor instead of being thrown around.

But the implications were clear. The Surfer had demonstrated that he was not in the mood to play around.

Interestingly, Diana was the first to charge. She had recovered quickly from the initial blast and shot to the front, diving to the left as the Surfer turned his glance into her direction, and swinging her rope. The magical weapon latched onto the Surfer and pulled taught, holding him there while the Amazon leapt at him with her fist clenched.

At this rate, she could have punched a mountain, since the Surfer didn't even _bother_ to acknowledge the attack.

Instead, he arched an eyebrow and glanced at Diana, who stumbled back swearing, clutching her wrist. He tugged at the lasso fruitlessly. "I see", he commented, "A rope made by magical means. Nearly impossible to tear apart and a great treasure to your people." He inclined his head. "Meaning that ripping it to pieces would be a rude gesture." The Surfer simply stepped to the front side of his board while his middle section seemed to lose its cohesion for a moment.

The Lasso of Truth simply dropped on his board behind him, then slid off as the Surfer moved it towards the Justice League.

The heroes reacted. Ollie and Roy, safely hidden behind the heavier fighters, both shot a volley of arrows at the Surfer, who simply reacted by bringing his board up, letting it absorb the brunt of the projectiles.

"I know a man who uses arrows like you do", the Surfer muttered, "Though his weakness is yours: You are just human."

Suddenly he was behind them, having moved without the League realizing it. The Flash cursed and sped towards him, however he was too slow when he realized that the two archers suddenly crumpled to the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?!" Barry roared.

"I merely told them to sleep", the Surfer replied, taking the punch the Flash threw at him without flinching. "They will wake up. I have no quarrels with them."

Kid Flash sped towards his uncle and then dove at the two unconscious men, quickly carrying them out before the Surfer could react.

Or perhaps he just didn't bother with the teenager.

"But I have a quarrel with you!" Flash growled, starting to run in rapid circles around the Surfer to generate a tornado with the intention of throwing the man off balance.

Wind began roaring and debris was flung through the air.

The whole show didn't last long though when the tornado was ripped apart by another surge of energy. Flash dove to the side with a frown. "Don't think I'm finished, buddy", he snapped, shooting towards the Surfer once more despite Superman's shouts to not do it.

The Surfer watched him with furrowed brows. Batman could see him shift his body ever so slightly, but he didn't see what happened next. One moment the man stood there atop his board, the next, man and board were gone from that spot. Instead, he was several yards further down the beach, holding Flash up by his throat with a hand.

Flash swore and kicked at the silvery skin, but it drew no reaction from the man. "Your powers are...troublesome", the man stated. "As much I don't want to do this, you leave me with no choice." His eyes began to glow, shortly before Flash gave off a pained groan.

"Uncle Flash!" Kid Flash yelled, darting towards the older Speedster. Superman and Wonder Woman charged too, bodily tackling the Surfer and making him drop Barry in surprise. The two heroes stopped in front of the Speedster and glared angrily at the Surfer, who easily corrected his trajectory to hover above the frozen bay.

"Uncle B! Is everything all right?!" Kid Flash asked worried, "Uncle B!"

Flash made a pained choke and struggled back to his feet. "I'm okay", he groaned, "Just give me a moment-" He was cut off as he tried to take a step and suddenly found himself face-first in the sand, grunting.

"What?!" Kid Flash wailed panicked, "Your powers- what happened?"

"They- they're gone!" Hawkwoman noticed, "Flash! It's gone!"

"I merely took them from you", the Surfer commented. "As impressive as your 'Speed Force' is, it is no match for one who travels the Galaxy within the blink of an eye." He inclined his head, watching the startled Speedster. "Don't worry. You will have your powers back later."

Not even a second later and the Surfer was hit with full force by a giant green construct- courtesy of Gardner. Bruce admitted that he never liked Gardner too much, but if the Ring chose him, there wasn't much to be done.

The Surfer struggled for a short moment before he righted his position, threw out his hand and simply shattered the construct into thousand tiny pieces.

Gardner stumbled back from the force of the backlash, but managed to catch his balance quick enough. Stewart and Jordan both joined him, standing next to their fellow Lantern. Their Rings began glowing wildly and green energy surged around them, shaping their thoughts and imaginations into constructions of solid light.

"This is foolish", the Surfer commented, "Someone is going to get hurt at this rate." Bullets of green energy impacted into his skin, forcing him to step back on his board to regain his balance, though once he did, he simply took the attack as if it was just a breeze. "I met powers like yours before", he stated. "A young man named Kyle Rainer, if I'm not mistaken." His silver eyes narrowed. "I know their weakness as well."

His body began glowing, strokes of light pulsing from his board to his body before he ducked and charged the three Lanterns. They created a massive shield by uniting their powers, hoping to fend the Surfer off, but whatever he was made of, the Green Lantern's energy had barely an effect on him. He slipped _through_ the barrier as if it didn't exist in the first place, stopping right in front of the Green Lanterns. His hand latched onto Gardner, seconds before his body gave off a bright green glow that nearly blinded them all.

 _"Warning"_ a mechanical voice blared through the glare, _"Ring Power levels dropping. Power levels are at 50%. 25%. 5%. Ring Power levels 0%."_

The 'Zero Percent' part made Batman's hair stand on end. He knew only too well what this meant. It meant that the three Green Lanterns had no more juice. Their Power Rings had run out of energy and thus, their greatest guns were out of the game.

The light died down, allowing them to see the Silver Surfer stand nonchalantly on his Surf Board, hand hanging loosely at his side, while the three Lanterns sat in front of him in the sand, their green uniforms gone and their Rings no longer glowing.

The Surfer had siphoned out all their power.

Not even five minutes into the confrontation with the Surfer and Red Tornado was out, Green and Red Arrow were unconscious on the floor, Flash no longer had his Speed Force and now the Lanterns were powerless.

It didn't look too good.

Superman dove at the silver man, sending him and his board careening through the air before he righted himself and quickly ducked under another blow from the Kryptonian. Superman swung his leg, forcing the intruder to drop to a knee. The board dipped down, rolling in air to shoot out of reach. Superman whirled and fired his heat glare at the man, only for his beams to be absorbed into the board.

"The Board!", Ray Palmer noticed, "It is the source of his power!"

"It looks that way", Hawkman commented. Superman glared darkly and shot to the front, tackling the Surfer and trying to restrain his arms.

The Surfer made a disgruntled noise, but remained stubbornly atop his board.

It was somehow...bonded to him.

The remaining Justice League quickly noticed what they were planning, and the Hawks shot towards the Kryptonian and the silver intruder, Nth-Weapons ready to shatter the board if necessary. The Surfer's eyes narrowed on them.

And suddenly Superman lost his grip on the man.

Or better, the Surfer _phased_ right through the Kryptonian and the approaching Thanagarians.

 _Density shifting! Just like J'Onn!_

Once freed of the three, the Surfer whipped around and threw a nasty punch into their direction, sending them all crushing back into the floor. They got back up quick enough though, and charged him once more. The Surfer easily stopped them with another blast of energy, but left his back wide open for Diana and Captain Marvel to attack. The Amazon and the Thunder God had managed to bring up enough power to knock the Surfer out of balance before Superman charged again and bodily threw the intruder off his board. The Surfer gasped in surprise when he and the Kryptonian both hit the floor in a heap.

"The board!" Batman shouted.

Zatanna and Doctor Fate threw their hands out, magic dancing around their finger tips as they called out to their powers to bind the silver board with ethereal fetters.

The Surfer was stunned on the floor with Clark over him, pinning him to the sand. Superboy joined the other Kryptonian in his effort to hold the man down.

M'Gann and J'Onn both floated over to the intruder, and Batman followed with the remaining League. During the battle, he felt incredibly out of place, since he couldn't do anything against the Surfer. But now he was defeated.

The Dark Knight frowned. It was...too easy.

He didn't trust this.

"Manhunter", Superman said, "Find out what he's thinking."

"I will", the Martian commented, kneeling down next to the Surfer to place his fingers against his silver skull.

Batman noticed the glance of the man.

"A Telepath", he said softly, "Intriguing" Suddenly his tone changed and his eyes narrowed. "You believe yourselves to be above the law", he growled, "You believe you defeated me. But let this be told-" His body began glowing before he unleashed another powerful blast, throwing the entire Justice League through the air like ragdolls. "Against the Power Cosmic you cannot prevail."

He stood again, watching them with furrowed brows as they got back to their feet, determined to continue fighting.

Ready to protect their world.

"Your bravado is refreshing for a while", the Surfer commented, holding out his arm. "Yet it is wasted energy. To me, my board!"

Fate and Zatanna gave off a dry wheeze as the magical barrier snapped and the board rushed away from its place of imprisonment to meet up with its master once more. The Surfer easily stepped atop his ride, turning to face them.

"We're not going to give up here, buddy!" Captain Marvel called out, smacking his fists together in preparation.

"How sad", the Surfer replied. Batman saw the crinkle on his forehead. "I believed you humans would understand and comply with me. Yet you didn't. You fought me. You tried to stop me from finishing my mission."

Energy began to crackle around the man and Bruce realized in an instant that he had reached the end of his patience. "It should not anger me", the Surfer finished. "But it does. Oh yes, it does."

"DUCK!" Batman shouted.

The World exploded around them.

* * *

His ears were ringing with an obnoxious loud screech and his vision was spinning, but Batman slowly climbed back to his feet, feeling dizzy.

But they couldn't give up here. They couldn't let this Silver Surfer do whatever he wanted to do.

The other knew it too, as all of them groaned in pain and struggled back to stay upright.

"You should not attempt to continue fighting", the Surfer's voice cut in, sending chills down everybody's back. The blast he had just utilized had knocked the entire League unconscious for several seconds, while the Surfer himself didn't show any signs of exhaustion _at all_.

Bruce had to realize that the entire confrontation, the man had been pulling his punches, he had _held back._ And still he managed to wipe out the entire Justice League with one single blow.

The Dark Knight hated to think about what would have happened if he had actually _meant_ it.

He would have probably blown up the entire planet.

"I cherish life", the Surfer stated darkly, "Even the life of those that lie and destroy."

 _Lie and destroy? What did he mean?_

"You _know_ what I am talking about", the Surfer bit out, glaring at the Batman. Bruce flinched back.

 _Did he read my mind?_

"I did", the other growled. "I can do it without effort. Yet I do not violate the privacy of others by watching their thoughts without their consent. But you, you and the others angered me."

"Why?" Superman ground out, standing firm again, but panting in exhaustion. "Why did you attack us?"

"Because you sought to attack me first, Son of Krypton", the Surfer answered with a frown. "I offered you the chance to come with me peacefully, yet you decided to fight me."

"But what did you want us to follow you?" Bruce asked. He decided on trying to talk to the man, seeing that _fighting_ him was impossible.

Also, he hadn't injured or killed any of the others. True, his arrival knocked out Red Tornado, but it also knocked out every other electric object in reach. He knocked Ollie and Roy out, most likely with his telepathy, and took Barry's and the Lantern's Powers, but didn't harm them any further.

Even when bodily fighting against Superman and the Hawks, he didn't try to injure them too greatly. Bruises, yes, but not even broken bones or cuts.

And even this energy blast didn't wound any of them. It had thrown them through the air and knocked them out, made them dizzy and confused, but there wasn't a single injury in sight.

The Silver Surfer did not want to hurt or kill any of them.

So Bruce talked to him.

The Surfer had his brows furrowed, watching the man. "You do not know", he stated. "What you and five others have done."

"Me?"

"Yes. Batman of the Justice League", the Surfer inclined his head, glancing at the others. "The one called Superman, The Martian Manhunter, Hawkwoman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern John Stewart."

Bruce felt an icy shiver run down his spine. Those six...they were the six that have been missing from all Watchtower Surveillance...

"When?" He asked cautiosly.

The Surfer's frown deepened, though he seemed to be aware that the Batman really had no idea what was going on. "In Earth Date, December 31st. You and the aforementioned five members of the Justice League arrived at the Planet of Rimbor, attacking the people there without reason or warning and declaring war on several species."

"Damn, dude!" Robin's voice cut in. The youngest of them had a slightly torn costume, but seemed to be all right otherway. "That's what happened?"

"Do you not trust in my words?"

"Not really", Superboy bit out. The clone stood just behind Robin, glaring furiously at the Surfer. "You kind of blew all of us up. Why should we trust you?"

"Because I do not lie", the silver man claimed. "Those six of the Justice League of America from Earth- or _this_ Earth, anyways- went to wreck havoc on the planet of Rimbor. I passed it not too long ago and heard of the attack, so I came here to take the aggressors to answer for their crimes."

"Dude, they're _innocent_!" Robin declared. "They were under _mind control_!"

The Surfer's eyes narrowed. "Mind Control, you say?"

"They were", Superboy growled. "Go on! Look into our minds! See what was done to them!"

The Surfer frowned, but turned his attention on the clone for a second before inclining his head. "Indeed", he muttered, "What you say is true...You have been mere tools in the attempt to destabilize the peace between the worlds..."

A deep scowl appeared on his face. "All this war", he snarled, "Billions threatened to die for what?"

"They want war", Superman pointed out, "And they will get it." He paused, thinking for a moment. "Silver Surfer? How about you help us capture those that are responsible?" The Kryptonian nodded towards the destroyed beach. "You are powerful. Of course, I wouldn't ask you to smite the Light, but you could help us aprehend them. And then you could take them and us to Rimbor and tell them what happened. I'm sure they'll listen to a Herald of Galactus."

The Surfer frowned before he extended his hand towards the Kryptonian. "I believe this is a good course of action, Son of Krypton. Very well. Then I shall apologize for my...temper flaring out of control."

"Oh hey!" Flash complained, "What about my powers?"

The Surfer glanced at the Speedster before he snapped his fingers.

 _"Ring Power levels 100%"_ The Rings of the three Lanterns chimed, allowing the three men to shift back into their Lantern uniforms. Flash blinked at them and took a cautios step to the front, finding himself suddenly at the other end of the beach. He grinned widely, then ran a few quick laps around the beach.

"I told you you'll be getting your powers back", the Surfer commented, "And I hold my word."

"Thank you for listening", Superman continued. "You really are too strong for us to beat."

"I am the most powerful of the Heralds", Surfer replied.

"Cool", Robin piped up. "You gotta name then? Or should we stick with Silver Surfer?"

"Norrin. Norrin Radd."

* * *

 **Author: And the Winner is: The Silver Surfer!  
I mean, was this a question, really? Surfer is so ridiculously off the charts, it isn't even funny anymore. He is already a pretty big fish in the Marvel Universe with only a handful of other characters having a chance against him, and Marvel is stronger than DC (sorry Supes, but Galactus wouldn't even bother noticing you), so Surfer is going to wreck the Justice League without even breaking a sweat.  
Let's look at the facts, right?**

 **-Batman, Green Arrow, Red Arrow, Black Canary: Even with all their training and abilities, they are just** _ **human**_ **. Norrin can easily overpower them.  
-Flash: He's fast, so fast he can travel through time, but Surfer is still faster. He can not only travel to the past whenever he wants to, but he can also cross a distance of 5000 light years within the blink of an eye. Also, he has cosmic awareness, so he knows Flash will start running before Flash himself knows it.  
-Zatanna, Fate: Magic Users. They could be a bit tricky, but then again, Norrin could probably just overpower them.  
-Atom: He can be tiny. Oh great. Surfer can still see him.  
-Martian Manhunter: Whoever said that J'Onn could beat Surfer is nuts. Sure, he can beat Supes because he can shift his density and thus pass through him, but Surfer can do that too. Norrin also has a much stronger telepathy, having to actively **_**shut it off**_ **so he won't hear all thoughts, since he can effortlessly hear** _ **an entire planet**_ **worth of people. Besides, Surfer probably only has to crank up the temperature to beat the Martian.  
-Icon, Superman, Wonder Woman: These guys are a bit harder, but then again, Silver Surfer took a straight punch from She-Hulk, didn't flinch, hurt her hand and had the audacity to say "This young lady seems to have bumped into me". So yeah. Super Power does shit on the guy who fights inside Black Holes.  
-Captain Atom: Energy beams. Seriously. Surfer can absorb and/or re-direct energy beams.  
-Green Lanterns: There is an official comic that Surfer beat up Kyle Rainer. So what stops him from doing that to the other Green Lanterns? And this shit about Hal being stronger than Kyle? Did you not get the part were Surfer can absorb energy? He could easily drain the Green Rings, forcing them to return to the battery.**

 **Surfer has stated that he could simply expand the atoms inside a person's body to remove them from existence. He has Cosmic Awareness, can see past, present and future and is able to track a speck of dust through the entire Galaxy. He even blew up a planet to defeat Ravenous, Annihilus' right-hand man. So yeah, the Justice League is pretty much screwed.  
The only advantage they have is that Norrin almost never fights with his whole strength. Surfer without compassion would be about the worst thing that happens to them.  
**

 **theawesomeflash: You said that Flash is faster than the Surfer. That is not true. In the 'Defenders' comic, when Namor was missing, Doctor Strange suggested that they search for the Atlantean. Surfer instantly started looking and finished searching the entire Earth for Namor (thorougly!) by the time it took Strange to finish his damn sentence. Flash is far from that speed.  
You also said that Surfer jumps into Hyperspace to travel fast. Let's not forget that, to jump into Hyperspace, he already has to move at near light-speed. Plus, Surfer has a faster reaction speed. There is no way Flash can move faster than Surfer.**


	5. Galaxy Class vs Star Destroyer

**Author: Round 4! The Enterprise NCC-1701-D Galaxy Class vs. an Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer.**

 **Who will win? Who will end up being scrap metal?**

* * *

Tired and at the end of his strength, Picard dragged himself into his ready room and unceremoniously plopped into his office chair. He let out a long suffering groan before he realized that he didn't have anything to drink nearby.

He really needed a drink.

Mainly to banish the memories of the last days from his brain.

He exhaled and leaned back in his chair, glancing sideways to where his lionfish Livingston was calmly swimming around in his fish tank. Sometimes he envied the animal. It never had any troubles other than feeding and swimming around.

Livingston never had to deal with the Romulan senate.

Hours- _wasted_ in a futile effort to wrest at least _some_ form of approval from the Romulan senate regarding the latest suggestions of the Federation for a closer alliance.

Well, the captain was aware why he was chosen: He _did_ manage to get them to agree in at least some points- but it had been a very hard battle and it left a terrible taste in his mouth. He just wished he could drown it out with something strong- and he didn't really care if it was pure ethanol, liquid napalm, raw sewage or the terrible black sludge LaForge claimed to be coffee.

" _Commander Riker to captain Picard"_ , the intercom suddenly announced, _"We have discovered something unusual."_

Picard sighed and hit the reply button. "What kind of unusual?"

" _I think we have just discovered the signatures of a wormhole. A stable wormhole, captain"_ , LaForge cut in.

The idea of having discovered another stable wormhole outside of the Bajoran one got the captain's attention very quickly, so he slipped back to his feet and told his crew that he would return to the bridge.

Once he arrived there, he found LaForge, Data and Riker bent over the screen and discussing the latest findings.

"What do we have here?" the captain asked, startling the three men.

"It is as we figured out", Data commented, "It appears there is a spacial anomaly only half a light year away from our current position. I suggest we change course accordingly and perform a few tests."

"Make it so", Picard decided and sat down on his chair, while the crew went to plot a new course.

Once they reached the area the wormhole was in, the captain ordered to show it on the screen.

Only black empty space greeted them.

"Data?" Riker asked confused, "You said there was a wormhole here."

"I believe I did", the droid replied, "However, I was never asked for the distinct specifics." He fell silent as his fingers skipped over his station. "It is true what I claimed, here are readings of a spacial anomaly, otherwise known as 'wormhole'. However, it is not _open_ yet and thus hidden from the visual spectrum."

He paused and his eyebrows went up. "However", he continued, "It appears it is in the process of opening."

"Full stop!" Picard bellowed. Just in front of them, the vacuum of space seemed to contort before a bright blue tear opened in the empty blackness.

"Sir, there is a vessel coming through", LaForge claimed.

The crew held their breaths in anticipation, though Picard did notice Worf's fingers hovering over the targeting systems.

If anything hostile came through there, the Enterprise would not go down without a fight.

They didn't need to, though.

The tear was closed almost as fast as it had been opened, just as it ejected a small, derelict-looking ship.

It was of no build known to Picard, neither was it to any of his crew members.

The ship was rather small, not much larger than thirty-five meters in length and about half as wide, with a more or less symmetrical shape that reminded the captain of a bug head with two mandibles. Next to its right mandible was a small cockpit jutting out.

It was also extremely beaten up, with a scorched and torn-open hull and sparking engines.

"Number One", Picard asked curiously, "What are we looking at?"

"I have no idea, sir", Riker replied, "No recognizable markings on the hull, no ID either."

"I'm scanning it, captain", LaForge commented. "Hm. I do not see any warp drive. It has a sort of primitive shielding, consisting of a polarized hull, but other than that...It has been damaged by weapon fire, though."

"Life signs?"

"I detect three humans", Deanna Troy explained, "And one alien species currently unknown."

She paused, "They're still alive."

"Hail them", Picard ordered.

He waited for the link to be opened before he picked up his voice. "This is captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship _Enterprise_. It appears you require assistance."

Static answered them for a moment before there was a distinct 'click'.

" _Federation?"_ , a male voice replied, _"Never heard of you. And no, we do not need any help. Go away."_

Picard was about to answer when suddenly there was some sort of wailing growl echoing from the other ship's communication link. A second later, a female voice cut in. _"Yes, we need help, Han. I don't think they are with the Imperial Starfleet."_

There was another howling noise and a disgruntled snort. _"Fine. If you and Chewie decide to team up on me...Hey kid, what's your opinion?"_

" _I think we should accept their help"_ , a second male voice said carefully, _"Artoo and Ceethree can't fix the engine anyways."_

" _Fine. Fine. If we get shot, I'll tell you 'told you so'."_

Riker grinned and leaned to the front. "So I guess this is a 'yes', then?"

" _Yeah"_ , the first male replied with a grunt, _"Let's get over this."_

"Mister LaForge, pull them into shuttlebay 1", Picard ordered, "Mister Worf, you and Data with me." He got up with a smile. "I'd like to meet these gentlemen. Mister Riker, you have the Bridge. Get some distance between us and this wormhole once we have secured the vessel."

"Aye aye, captain."

The captain and his two subordinates left the Bridge and passed into the turbo lift, then headed straight for the main shuttlebay. Fitting the derelict ship through the entrance was probably a question of precision, but it was small enough to find a place amongst their shuttles.

As they arrived in the hangar, they witnessed the ship touching down on primitive-looking stands. Once it did, everybody inside the main shuttlebay held their breaths. Picard noticed several of his security officers holding their phaser guns harder. They weren't going to shoot without any sort of aggression, but it never hurt to be prepared.

A ramp was lowered from the ship's central hull, allowing its passengers to get off.

Picard's eyebrows went up at the sight of six individuals moving out- four organic and two mechanic.

Three of them were human enough- a young man and a young woman, both about the same age, with similar facial features. Picard assumed they were twins, siblings or otherwise closely related. The second man was taller, wore a white shirt and had a scowl on his face. They were followed by a tall humanoid. Its (Picard had to refer to the creature as 'it' until he would figure out what gender it was) body was completely covered with slightly wavy dark brown fur, though it stood upright and walked like a human. The two mechanics appeared to be primitive droids. One was short, possessed three wheels for locomotion and had the overall appearance of a trash can. The other was roughly human-sized and appeared human, with a stylized human face and pliers for hands.

Picard didn't miss the weapons they carried.

He cleared his throat and stepped to the front, watching the six closely. "My name is Jean-Luc Picard, and I am the commanding unit of this ship."

"Yeah", the scowling man growled. "So, now you've got us here. What now? Gonna throw us in the brig?"

"We have no reason to", Picard assured them. "It appeared you required assistance, and we will give it to you. However, we request that you hand your weapons over to our chief of Security- Mr. Worf- for as long you'll stay on board."

"I don't trust you", the man commented in a hostile manner. "So excuse me if I keep my blaster at my side."

Worf snorted. "I doubt it would do you any good either way", the Klingon claimed. "But it is only _polite_ for guests to listen to their hosts. _Especially_ when they rescued them from being stranded in space."

The man bristled, but the large furry humanoid growled softly and put his large paw on the man's shoulder, before handing some sort of crossbow to Worf.

The man frowned at his companion. "You really think so?"

" _ **Grawr."**_

"Fine" The man turned to Picard. "Chewie's trusting you and he got a good head on his shoulders. So okay. Don't make me regret this." He removed his own weapon and handed it over, while the others followed his example.

"Okay, c _aptain_ ", he sneered, "What now?"

"I believe our names would be most appreciated", the droid suddenly threw in in a mechanic voice. Data eyed it interested, though didn't move towards it yet.

"Ladies first, I guess", the man in the white shirt shrugged. The woman seemed to bristle for a moment before she turned towards them. "I'm Leia Organa."

"Luke Skywalker", the young man said.

"My name is C-3P0", the droid claimed. The other droid gave a series of beeping sounds. C3 twitched a bit, turning to his companion for a second with a surprisingly human gesture. "Of course. I wouldn't forget about you. This is R2-D2."

"I'm Han Solo", the scowly man grunted. His companion gave a short howl. "And that's Chewbacca."

"Well, Mister Solo. Now would you kindly explain to us who attacked you?", Picard questioned. "I do not wish to endanger my ship."

"Bad guys", Solo commented dryly. "Got lucky we found that Hyperspace route and jumped in. But our engine's kinda toast, so we're stuck for now."

"Hyperspace route?" Data suddenly cut in. The droid had moved to the rear of the ship and was busy scanning it. "I detect residues of wormhole travel- and you did appear out of a wormhole."

"Wormhole?" Solo frowned. "We used a Hyperspace jump. Admitted, I didn't check where the route went, but we were kinda busy _not dieing_."

Data furrowed his brows in surprise. "Interesting", he admitted, "So it appears this 'Hyperspace engine' you mentioned allows you to detect and travel through otherwise invisible wormholes?"

Picard perked up. There was a way to travel faster through the galaxy? There were more stable wormholes?

"Buddy, I have no idea what you're talking about", Solo grunted.

" _ **Hwroar."**_

"And Chewie doesn't either. And if he didn't hear of it, it doesn't exist."

"Excuse me the question, but what species is your friend?" Picard asked, "If you claim you had no idea where the 'Hyperspace' lead to, then it is quite possible you ended up in a part of the Galaxy you have never been to before...or you come from an entirely different galaxy."

"He's a Wookiee", Leia supplied helpfully. "Another galaxy...really?"

Picard's eyebrows went up. He never heard of Wookiees before. And that meant...

"Well, gentlemen, it appears we have visitors from a whole different galaxy."

* * *

Picard watched the six in front of him as they took cautious sips of their drinks (well, the organics did, the two droids were too busy talking to Data). The captain had Worf accompany them to the lounge, where they were supposed to feel more at ease. He still wanted to know more about them.

And especially about who attacked them.

Solo still didn't trust them, though Skywalker seemed to be more than willing to share.

"We're rebels", he told them, "Fighting against the injustice and tyranny of the Empire." He scoffed. "They didn't like it. Send Star Destroyers after us with the sole purpose of capturing us."

"We got away though", Leia added. "Mister Solo's a very good pilot."

"I get that often", Solo grunted around his drink. He growled again before glancing at Picard. "Just that you know, they might come after us. And the Empire's strong."

"Which is why I ordered to keep the area of your 'Hyperspace Route' under surveillance. We can not, however, just leave here."

"Why not? Any place would be better than this here."

"We are in Romulan territory. We have already contacted them because you ended up in their area, and any sign of aggression will be taken as declaration of war. We are on quite thin ice at the moment."

"I hate politics", Solo grunted.

" _ **Graowr"**_ , Chewbacca agreed.

Picard arched his eyebrow before turning to the newly-arrived Deanna Troy. "Counselor?" He asked, "Any progress with the Wookiee translation matrix?"

"It should be just about done", Troy replied. She tapped a button on her PADD before turning to Chewbacca. "Now, if you would say something please? How about you say us where you are from?"

The Wookiee frowned at her before he opened his jaws.

"Kashyyyk is my world called", he told her in perfect English. Solo, Organa and Skywalker's jaws dropped open as they stared at their companion.

"It appears it worked", Picard commented with a smirk.

"How- how is that possible?" Skywalker muttered, "How do you speak-?"

"Your tongue?" Chewbacca inclined his furry head. "It sounds as if you are speaking _my_ tongue- and it is really weird."

"Our combadge", Deanna explained, "They work as universal translators too." She nodded over her should towards a crewman. "Mister Cho over there does not speak a word English. He speaks Chinese. However, through his combadge he hears everything in Chinese, while he sound English to us. Same goes for Mister Bacca."

"Handy that", Leia agreed. "So, what now?"

"Now you'll are our guests until Mister Data and Mister LaForge have finished scanning your vehicle and are able to repair her- or until we have reached a dockyard and fixed her up there", Picard told them. He glanced at Solo. "You have a beautiful ship, captain Solo."

Solo just grunted, though his focus shifted to the young Skywalker, who glared darkly at his drink as if it had personally wronged him.

"Hey kid, is there a problem?"

"Wha-?" Skywalker's head snapped up. "Uh- sorry. It's just..." He trailed off, concentrating on his words. "There's a disturbance in the Force...as if something is going to happen."

"Force?" Picard questioned in confusion.

Skywalker squirmed a bit. "It's a form of energy within the universe, and some have contact to it." He shook his head. "At any rate, I have a bad feeling."

Like on signal, Picard's combadge beeped loudly. The captain pressed it once. "Picard"

" _Captain"_ , Riker's voice told him, _"It looks like there is trouble. Your presence is required on the bridge."_

"What exactly is happening?" the captain wanted to know, even as he got up and hurried towards the turbolift.

" _We kept our eyes on the wormhole- Hyperspace route- and it's about to open again."_ Number One paused for a second. _"We're about to get company."_

* * *

In near record time Picard, Worf, Data, Troi and the six they picked up managed to reach the bridge. Riker got up to greet his commander with his browns drawn together. "It doesn't look too good, captain", he told him.

"In how far?" Picard questioned as he moved to sit in his chair.

"With the specifications we got from the 'Hyperdrive' of the _Millennium Falcon_ , we were able to scan the Hyperspace entryway", Riker explained, "Technically we can look inside of it."

"No details, please. You said there was trouble?"

"There is. Captain, the pathway is about to open, and that means that there are ships coming through."

"And?"

"There is a _fleet_ coming through", Riker's grim voice told them. "We picked up about a hundred ships- and more than thirty are larger than 1500 meters."

There was a shocked silence on the bridge for several long seconds as the information settled.

"Red Alert!" Picard snapped, "Everybody to the battle stations! Raise the shields!"

In an instant, the interior of the _Enterprise_ was coated in red light while an unmistakable alarm sound howled throughout the entire ship.

The six they picked up gasped and shuffled around and out of the way of the crewmen, until Picard stopped them with a hard glare. "You claimed to be rebels, however why should they send so many ships just to retrieve you?"

"Beats me", Solo tried to argue, but Organa cut him off. "It is true", she said, "We _are_ rebels, fighting for the Republic. However..." The woman exhaled coldly and tried to gather her resolution. "I am also the Princess of the Republic and of the planet Alderaan." Her voice dropped a few octaves. "The planet that had been _destroyed_ by the Empire as a demonstration of their power."

"And we are also the only children of the Empire's most powerful General", Skywalker added bitterly, "And I assume he wants us back at his side."

"And there is the welcoming committee", Solo commented with a growl, nodding towards the view screen.

The tear they have seen before opened again, and one ship after another dropped out of the Hyperspace.

Nearly all of the ships were easily as large or larger than the _Enterprise_. Picard assumed these were cruiser and light battleships, however around thirty-five of them were massive capital ships.

Each of them were nearly three times as long as the _Enterprise_ , and much more massive. They were shaped like a wedge, with a nearly dagger-like outer hull and a single commanding bridge jutting out from the hind dorsal side.

"In the name of-", Solo groaned, " _Star Destroyers_? They sicced three dozen of those on our asses _just_ for you two? Are they serious?"

Picard watched how they approached them. They must have notice the _Enterprise_ by now, though the main bulk of the fleet has stopped, with only their flagship coming towards them.

"Mister Data", Picard ground out, "Scan this ship."

"Aye aye"

"Captain", Deanna spoke up, "We are being hailed."

"Open a channel." The captain got up, glaring at the fleet on the view screen as he waited for the other to speak up.

" _This is general Saul Karath"_ , the commander of the Imperial battleship sneered, _"State your name and your business. You have five seconds, then we will blow you to pieces for daring to stand in our way."_

"I am captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship _Enterprise_ ", Picard gave back, "And I do not take your threat against my ship and crew kindly." He narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing here with your fleet?"

The general scoffed. _"We are here on orders of Lord Darth Vader to retrieve a group of rebels. You are to comply."_

"Rebels?" Picard asked innocently, "Please tell me, why do you think we have them?"

" _We followed the trail of their engines"_ , Karath barked, _"And it leads directly to your ship. Hand them over or you will suffer the Wrath of the Empire."_

"You have to save yourselves", Organa whispered, "You should give us to them so they won't destroy you."

"We don't negotiate with _terrorists_ ", Picard replied with a stern voice. "And we don't negotiate with aggressors. So I will deny your request."

" _You will regret this, captain"_ , Karath snarled and the connection was cut.

"Sir?" Data questioned, "What about the Primal Directive? We are not supposed to meddle with the affairs of other species."

"As I see it, we are offering refugees of war much-needed help."

"It is foolish", Solo cut in, "They are too strong! The Empire will destroy you!"

"We will see", Picard replied, glaring at the screen.

"Sir", Worf declared, "They are powering up their weapons."

"And they are getting ready for attack", Riker added. Picard nodded silently, watching how the massive ship curiously turned to the side, presenting them its flank.

"Almost like a ship at sea", Picard mused. "Mister Data, what do the scans say?"

"There are nearly forty-seven-thousand life signs on board", the droid explained, "However, there is no indication of a targeting system, despite the sixty Laser-and Ion-based cannons each. The Bridge is the central controlling unit, yet they are missing any higher developed scanners."

Picard arched an eyebrow while Riker picked up. "Wait. You want to say they have _manned_ cannons?"

"It appears that way. It would also suggest that they target manually and _on sight_ ", Data told them. "Also they have no adequate shielding- merely the Bridge possesses a primitive deflector shield."

"They're opening fire!" Worf warned.

Picard merely narrowed his eyes and gave a short "Brace for impact!"

The _Enterprise_ shook slightly as red laser streaks and ion bursts crashed into her Deflector Shields, dissipating more or less harmlessly.

"Shields at one hundred percent, there was nearly no damage taken", LaForge said after the initial blow. He snorted. "I'm pretty sure our hand held phasers pack more punch than that just now."

"Good", Picard mumbled. "Gentlemen, you are all witnesses that these men have attacked us _first_. Mister Worf, target their weapon's main energy core and their shield emitters." The Captain glared at the huge vessel in front of them.

"Engage."

The _Enterprise_ set into motion.

The Star destroyer-class battleship remained where it was, like a giant bulwark as the smaller starship picked up its speed. Red laser streaks were blasting past the _Enterprise_ left and right, with the few actually hitting her, impacting against her shields and vanishing without even causing damage.

Suddenly the Galaxy-Class starship tipped its saucer down and presented the Destroyer its dorsal side for a split second before it simply dove below it. At the same time, the top-side phaser bank charged up, so the very second the _Enterprise_ was beneath the Destroyer, it shot two streaks of energized particles into the ventral side of the much larger ship.

The phaser easily ripped through the outer hull and the internal plasteel plates, leaving a massive smoldering hole in its wake. The Destroyer shook violently with a hidden explosion as the beam found its mark in the generator and subsequently blew it up.

The giant Destroyer shuddered violently. As the _Enterprise_ dove past it, the huge capital ship rolled over like an iceberg, metal and plasteel twisting and breaking.

A third phaser beam hit the shield emitter near the bridge and tore it asunder as well, leaving the colossus unprotected and defenseless on its back.

The _Enterprise_ rolled to the side, moving past its felled foe.

"Hail them again", captain Picard ordered.

The channel opened, allowing them to hear the swearing and panicked cries on the other side.

"General Karath", Picard spoke up, drawing the man's attention. " _That_ have been three simple Phaser bursts. I disabled your weapon systems and shields, but not your engines. Leave now or the consequences will be dire."

" _You have no authority over the Empire"_ , Karath spat. _"Destroy them!"_

Well. At least the man had his principles.

"Captain!" Worf snapped, "The _entire fleet_ is powering up!"

"Set a course! Get us away from the visual range" Picard ordered. "We don't know how much laser fire the shields can take if all of them are shooting at us."

"But we can't hide forever!" Solo threw in, looking positively rattled.

"We don't have to", Riker replied with a glance at his screen. He paused for a second to grimace before he continued. "We just have to drive them off before worse things happen."

Three more Destroyers moved towards them, beginning to fire wildly into space in hopes of hitting the _Enterprise_.

"Target their bows with photon torpedoes!" Picard commanded.

"Sir, there are no vital systems in the bow", Data answered confused.

"Data. I don't want to murder hundred thousand of men by destroying the ships", the captain reminded him. "We just need to damage them so they have to pull back."

"Torpedoes are ready", Worf claimed.

"Fire"

Three photon torpedoes shot out of the front launchers in short succession, racing through empty space at an incredible speed. Seconds later they detonated at the very tip of the pointed bows, causing massive explosions and literally eradicating the front third of all three ships. From the shock of the impact, the three were thrown off course, two slammed into each other while the third began turning on its back like a dead bug.

Eight of the smaller cruisers raced to the front, shooting right towards the _Enterprise_ while firing their front-mounted cannons wildly in hopes to damage them in any way.

The Federation starship jerked up, easily moving upwards to avoid them while the ion-and laser bursts continued to impact into her shields.

"Shields at ninety six percent", LaForge informed them.

"I got them", Worf growled. Eight of the ship's phaser banks released their highly concentrated particle beams, each of them hitting the cruisers' main energy cores with a deadly precision and leaving them adrift in space.

"This is riddiculous", Picard muttered. "General Karath. I implore you to pull back immediately. I do not wish to waste too many lives in such a senseless battle!"

" _You should have given us the rebels"_ , the General snarled, _"Now the blood of all these men is on your hands!"_

The comm was shut off.

"Sir!" Deanna warned, "There are small units spawning from the Star Destroyers."

"Mines?" Riker asked worried.

"No... _manned_ shuttles, it appears."

"On screen!" Picard ordered and they watched how dozens of small ships were ejected from the massive captial ships to begin swarming towards the _Enterprise_. They weren't big, maybe only three to four meters, with large solar panels on either side and a roughly orb-shaped main hull in the middle.

And they were fast. They darted towards the larger Federation Starship like angry bees, shooting green lasers that impacted into the main shields. The _Enterprise_ trembled, but the shields held- even though they begun slowly losing their integrity.

"Mister LaForge", Picard grumbled through grit teeth. "Re-calibrate a torpedo according to the energy signatures of these ships, so we can shut them off remotely."

"Aye, Sir"

"Mister Worf, set an evasion course."

"Aye."

The _Enterprise_ dropped to one side, away from the angry swarm. The smaller bow-tie-looking ships immediately changed their trajectory to follow after the larger ship. They couldn't really hurt them, but they were persistant as they hunted the vessel down.

At the same time, the larger cruisers and capital ships continued to fire at them. The deflector shields easily swallowed up the damage, and the _Enterprise_ replied in kind by continuing to take out their energy cores with precise phaser shots.

Without shields or adequate hull platings, the high energy particle beams cut through the ships like they were made of butter, and their massive size made it hard for them to move without hitting any of the others.

"The torpedoes are ready, Captain", LaForge supplied.

"On my mark. Mister Data, get us out of here. Maximum impulse", Picard ordered. The _Enterprise_ rolled away from the capital ships and raced into open space, quickly out of the visual reach of the gunners. The tie-shaped shuttles followed after the Starfleet vessel like a limpet.

"Fire!"

The aft-facing launcher slid open and shot out a single torpedo, right between the following fighters. The projectile exploded in a brilliant shower of silver light, causing all of the smaller ships to suddenly lose their propulsion, weapons and navigation with a single EMP strike, so they simply drifted through space.

"The overcharge will be remedied within half an hour", Data noticed, "Too short for the life support systems to fail."

"Like I told general Karath, I do not wish to kill too many of their men", Picard explained. His gaze fell to the screen mounted into the armrest of his chair and a little curse flowed off his lips.

"Counselor!" He snapped, "Hail general Karath!"

"He's locking us out", Troi replied.

"Then force your way in!"

"Aye."

Picard waited for the moment it took for the link to be established, and once it did, he picked up his voice. "General Karath. I believe I have demonstrated the superiority of my ship. Now, remove your fleet from this quadrant immediately."

" _The Empire will not retreat!"_

"You are making a mistake", Picard warned him. "Your arrival here, the signatures of your engines, the fire of your weapons is like a giant beacon in this part of the Galaxy."

Riker now picked up on what his Captain was saying, and he glanced at his screen too. With a sigh, he nodded to his superior. "They're here", he said slowly.

" _Who?"_ Karath snarled, _"More of your pathetic allies?"_

"Not really", the Starfleet Captain admitted. "We have been on a diplomatic mission, General Karath. _You_ have just fired upon a _diplomatic_ vessel after having invaded this realm with a _fleet_. I believe you can see how this looks, right?"

" _Why should this concern me?"_

"Well. If you had intruded in Federation territory, you would have been send home with a warning and crippled ships, but with most of your men alive. However..." Picard's eyes narrowed on the fleet on his screen. "You are _not_ on Federation grounds. With your arrival, you challenged the _Romulan Star Empire_ \- and they are not very happy with you."

" _There are no ships"_ , Karath scoffed. _"There are no on our scanners!"_

"And that is where you're wrong", Picard commented. "We have been tailed by a few of their _Talon_ Class spies ever since we left the Romulan home world. And these spies have send reports back to the fleet, of course."

" _Lies and tricks"_ , the General spat.

Picard sighed, then turned to his armrest-mounted console. "I tried to warn them, admiral Nelacar."

" _Then they can not expect any mercy from us"_ , the console replied with a venomous tone.

"Admiral, on a word: If they flee, please do not try to pursue them. I doubt the Romluan Empire will have enough resources for a prolonged battle with another Empire."

" _You have my word, captain, that we will just drive them from our territory."_

The connection was cut. Skywalker looked at Picard curiously. "It is true, they are here, isn't it?" he asked. The Captain only nodded grimly. "I knew it", Skywalker mumbled. "There have been too many presences around."

"Their fleet has approached us as we fought the Empire", Riker pointed out. "And now there is nothing that will stop them."

"Enjoy the fireworks", Worf added darkly.

They watched how a larger assault ship, larger than a Shuttle, shot towards them, seemingly believing the _Enterprise_ to be a simple target now that she wasn't moving anymore.

A single green bolt tore the smaller ship right into pieces, seconds before a part of the empty space contorted and shimmered, revealing a single green ship. A smaller Griffin Class starship, only about fifty meters in length.

As it slowly moved past the _Enterprise_ , more Griffins and some larger Kestrels shimmered into view.

Right next to the Federation Starship the room warped once more, revealing several Valdore Class Starships. Solo and the others inhaled sharply at the sight of these large, bird-shaped vessels with their massive wingspan.

Then, a group of five D'deridex Warbirds appeared, dwarfing the _Enterprise_ with their giant shapes.

Without any warning, the front Warbird begun the assault. It fired a single green-glowing photon torpedo right at the capsized Star Destroyer Flagship. The warhead found its mark in the main bulk of the ship, causing it to instantly explode in a violent ball of fire.

The other Romulan vessels joined in.

Photon torpedoes utterly devastated the massive capitial ships, disruptor fire destroyed the cruisers and phaser bursts in short succession utterly decimated each and every of the smaller fighter ships.

In the end, around thirty Imperial Ships tried to escape. Their massive size was too cumbersome for them to move quickly, so only one ever managed to jump into Hyperspace and flee, while all of the others were ruthlessly torn to pieces by the Romulan fleet.

Picard sighed and got to his feet. "Well. It appears I have to be prepared for when the admiral comes around asking questions. I will be in my ready room. Number One, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain"

As Picard left the bridge to head towards the turbolift, he heard Solo exhale loudly. "Well", he began, "That was incredibly efficient. How many of them do you think could we get for kicking Imperial asses?"

The Captain didn't hear the answer when the door shut behind him with a _woosh_.

 _'Well'_ , the thought grimly, _'Back to Romulan politics.'_

He paused in his steps towards his ready room, then turned and headed towards the Ten Forward. Maybe he could talk Guinan into giving him some of the strongest Ale.

* * *

 **And the winner is: The** _ **Enterprise**_ **D!**

 **But seriously, did you expect anything more? The Enterprise has the most awesome starship captain ever, Captain Picard. Maybe that's just my inner Trekkie talking, but I believe the only two awesome Star Wars characters are** _ **Darth Revan**_ **and** _ **Kyle Katarn**_ **. If you don't know who they are, shame on you.**

 **But before you Star Wars Nerds begin to flame me, how about we check the technical details which were what made me write the outcome as I did?**

 **-Star Destroyer: 1600 meters in length, shaped like a wedge with a bridge on the hind side. Equipped with thirty Laser Cannons and thirty Ion Cannons on either side, as well as seventy-two TIE fighters for space battles.**

 **-Galaxy-Class: 641 meters in length, has a saucer section and a lower body section with the warp core and nacelles on either side. Equipped with eleven to fourteen phaser arrays, two torpedo launchers and 250 photon torpedoes, as well as antimatter mines.**

 **Figuratively, the Star Destroyer is much larger and much more heavily armed, but that is only on the first glance. The Destroyer has no Deflector Shields to speak of. All damage has to be absorbed by its polarized hull, which keeps radiation away. Also, all of its cannons are operated by individuals (I have this knowledge merely from the** _ **Jedi Academy**_ **game, so this might be wrong), who shoot** _ **on sight**_ **. In Space.**

 **The** _ **Enterprise**_ **has a fully-functional shield, which can hold off a lot of damage, while also possessing a special hull and a secondary shield just around its hull. The** _ **Enterprise**_ **has a targeting system and target-searching torpedoes, so all the gunner has to do is click on the target and press 'fire'.**

 **With its replicator technology, the Federation also does not require to take so much food with them. The crew quarters also look much nicer.**

 **Battle-wise is the** _ **Enterprise**_ **much stronger and better equipped than the Star Destroyer. It's phasers are strong enough to burrow a hole in one mile of solid granit within seconds, one Photon Torpedo is enough to blow up an unshielded Galaxy Class. Also, while the Destroyer has to move with its longside towards its target to shoot, the** _ **Enterprise**_ **can fire from all directions and move while doing so.**

 **A fleet of Star Destroyers is a horrid sight to behold, but one alone is a huge slow behemoth that can't hit anything that is directly beneath it.**

 **Also, if the bridge is destroyed, the entire thing goes out of control, while the** _ **Enterprise**_ **has some backup systems.**

 **While Star Wars has some really interesting Aliens (Ithorians, Sarlacc,...) and the more awesome powers (Force. Force is always awesome), Star Trek is simply better. The technology makes more sense (a light sabre? How the hell do you fix a light beam on a set length?) and they have the more terrifying Aliens- Let's not forget the** _ **Borg**_ **, who could assimilate the entirety of the Empire;** _ **Species 8472**_ **, who can destroy fifteen Borg Cubes with a single ship; and the** _ **Q**_ **, who are essentially a race of God Aliens.**

 **Plus, in Star Trek, they managed to develop Time Travel two hundred years after Picard and perfected it four hundred years later; while in Star Wars all that happened in five** _ **thousand**_ **years between Revan and Vader was that they found a replacement for Kolto and made their ships even uglier.**

 **So yeah. The Enterprise wins this hands down.**


	6. Dovahkiin vs Courier

**Author: Round 5. The Dovahkiin, vanquisher of Alduin the World-Eater vs. the Courier, vanquisher of Cesar's armies and hero of the Mojave desert.**

* * *

 _'Two down, one to go'_ , the Courier thought with a grimace and a side-glance to the two vaguely head-shaped packs she was lugging around.

"Sun's going to come up soon", Boone mumbled with a glance at the sky. "We don't have too much time left."

"I know", the Courier groaned. "But only Cook-Cook's left anyways and we are already pretty close. So let's get the last head for Dhatri."

ED-E beeped in affirmation and Boone just shrugged. "Hey, these fuckers deserve what they're getting", the sniper muttered. The Courier agreed with him, though the idea of carrying around severed heads did not sit well with her.

So the three carefully creeped closer to the derelict warehouse the Fiends were holed up in.

Even from a distance they could hear shouts and shooting.

"What's going on there?", the Courier asked surprised.

"It sounds as if someone is already taking care of these bastards", Boone commented with a frown.

"Oh damn. I _need_ that head!" The Courier quickly sprinted closer to the building, though she was trying to keep to the shadows as to not accientally be seen before.

Boone and ED-E followed close by and soon caught up to her. The Courier was hidden behind another ruined wall and slowly nodded to her companions.

"On three", she whispered.

Boone and her dove behind another piece of rubble, where they had a better view of the camp, and carefully peeked over it.

Both froze at the sight of the Fiends' torn bodies littering the ground. Weapons were thrown around, and there were scorch marks on the walls and floor. The Raiders screamed and fired wildly at something big in the middle of their camp, but through their drug-induced tremors almost none of them could shoot straight.

And the beast that was easily tearing all of them apart.

"The fuck?" Boone breathed, "Is this some sort of mutated coyote? Or something like a Yao Guai?"

"I have no fucking clue", the Courier gasped.

The creature was large, nearly as large as a Deathclaw, which it shared the overall shape of its body with. However, this beast was clearly mammalian, like a coyote, as Boone had mentioned. Its jaws were large and full of teeth, and its claws nearly human-like with nails long enough to easily rip through the Fiend's armors. Its body was coated with thick sand-colored fur around the back, arms and neck, and shorter fur along the chest and face. It was also splattered with blood. What was coating its arms and face was probably Raider, but the many tiny holes across its torso looked like it had been shot a few times.

"Fuck", Boone grunted lowly, pulling the Courier's attention away from her musings to what the beast was _doing_ currently.

It had thrown its weight against a Fiend and was currently raking its claws through the man's body, tearing through flesh and armor and was more or less gutting the poor soul.

Then she realized that the man was wearing a heavy suit of armor and a welding mask.

 _Cook-Cook! And that thing was currently ripping him to shreds!_

"Hey!" The Courier yelled, much to the shock of her companion. "I _need_ his head! Don't eat it, you stupid animal!"

The beast instantly whirled around, settling glowing yellow eyes on them with a low growl.

 _'That wasn't one of my brightest ideas'_ The Courier blinked, then slowly lifted her hands. "Uh...Nice doggy? Uhm...get back to...ignoring us? Please?"

The creature suddenly ducked low with an enraged snarl. Blood dripped off its fangs as it bared them to them with a rumbling growl.

The Courier stepped back. Slowly. Don't run. Dogs tend to run after running people. Don't. Run.

A shot cracked through the tense silence, followed by a pained yelp of the beast. Boone had aimed and shot at it in the time the Courier needed to realize her stupid mistake. However, now the thing was pissed. It let out a loud roar before it pounced off the ground.

The Courier and Boone dove to either side, letting the creature crash into the rubble between them. While it spun around and faced them again, the two brought up their guns and fired at the creature in a quick succession.

The Courier lamented the fact she hadn't kept the Fatman, but who could have thought they'd run into a hairy Deathclaw near Vegas?

Bullets did the trick though and the beast collapsed with an pained whine. It was seriously injured, but still alive.

The two humans glanced at each other, then at the creature that turned onto its back with a whimper.

Suddenly its body trembled before it simply...changed.

Its muzzle and fangs shrunk back, excessive hair was shed off, claws and paws became smaller and fur turned into clothes and armor.

Boone cursed under his breath and the Courier stared dumbfounded as the massive coyote-like creature turned into...a _human._

There weren't any obvious mutations about him, just the fact that he had been a Deathclaw-like dog a few moments back.

He didn't move, so the two carefully moved closer.

The man was tall, taller than Boone, and had formidable muscles beneath his skin. He seemed to have shoulder-long blonde hair, but that was mostly hidden beneath a metal helmet with a pair of long curved horns. He wore a sort of metal armor with massive pauldrons on the shoulders, armored gauntlets and boots and dark brown fur for clothes.

He also had a sword as well as a bow with arrows with him.

The Courier carefully moved closer, taking inventory of the man's injuries. Boone prodded the helmet with the tip of his rifle.

"Huh. Guess he's dead then."

Suddenly, the man's eyes flew open. Bright blue met startled dark ones for a split second before the man curled his lips and opened his mouth.

" _ **Fus Ro DAH!"**_

The Courier and Boone found themselves flung several feet into the air and away from the man, before they hit the ground a bit away with a dry grunt.

Dust whirled around and neither of them could comprehend what just happened, but the Courier did notice the man climb back to his feet with a positively pissed expression on his face. He paused for a second to glare at the blood rushing from his wounds, then turned back to the two who dared to shoot him. He flicked his wrist and a golden light enshrouded his body for several long seconds.

When it disappeared, the man stood there atop a pile of bullets and looked as if nothing ever happened.

He drew the sword from its sheath with a growl.

"Ah crap", Boone grunted.

The man leapt at them.

The two wastelanders managed to roll out of the way in time, so the man's sword riccochetted off a piece of rubble with a resounding _clang_. That didn't really slow him down though because he had whirled around in the next moment and swung his elbow into the Courier's direction. The bone connected, sending her stumbling back. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Boone flicking his rifle up. The man had also noticed it, much to her horror, but he wouldn't be able to dodge on that short distance.

He didn't need to, obviously, because he had opened his mouth again.

" _ **Zun Haal VIIK!"**_ Boone staggered back with a curse while his gun was literally flung out of his hands and ended on the ground a few yards behind them. The other man smirked and smacked the heft of his sword into Boone's stomach to send him back to the ground, before he turned back to the Courier. The woman immediately reacted by kicking up sand and small rocks directly into the man's face. He apparently didn't expect such a move and consequently got his face full of dirt, making him swear under his breath. The Courier quickly rushed over to Boone and together they headed to where the rifle was.

" _ **Wuld Nah KEST!"**_ The Courier and Boone both ducked to the side out of instinct as they heard the shout and a loud bang coming from behind. They wondered briefly whether they would be thrown around again, but quickly realized that instead of propelling _them_ through the air, the guy had used whatever it was on _himself_ , allowing him to cross the distance between his former place and the gun on the ground within the blink of an eye. He scoffed and stepped over the rifle, cutting the two wastelanders off from it.

"Oh shit", the Courier groaned, "What now?"

"Stuff his mouth before he can say another word?" Boone suggested. "It looks like he can shout loud enough to throw people around."

"But how?!"

There was a beep behind them, making them realize that in all what happened, they have forgotten ED-E. The Eyebot was hovering just left of them and was targeting its main canon on the man- who seemed a bit startled by the robot.

ED-E squeezed off a few rounds of plasma, hitting the man and forcing him to step back with a low curse.

As the robot continued to fire, the Courier carefully pulled an energy gun from her belt and aimed it at the man, while handing her small revolver over to Boone. Then they shot at him.

The man swore again before he steadied himself and threw out a hand. A transparent shield appeared in front of his body, swallowing up the projectiles coming from the wastelanders.

ED-E immedieately strafed to the side to reach the man's unprotected side, though the man instantly turned his attention to the robot. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes.

" _ **Iiz Slen NUS!"**_ He barked.

ED-E simply...froze.

Like literal block of ice froze.

In the middle of the _desert_.

The Courier and Boone both stared with slack jaws as their companion dropped to the ground with a dull _thud_ , ice encasing it and preventing it from moving.

"Oh shit!"

"Double back?", Boone suggested. "Make for the nearest hide-out?"

"We can't leave ED-E!" the Courier yelled.

"You wouldn't come far anyways", another voice rumbled. The two froze and turned to the man, who glanced at them with a frown. "Now speak, before I send you to Sovngarde."

He stepped towards them, glaring angrily from beneath his helmet. The Courier was certain she saw a golden glint in the man's eyes, a sure sign that the beast he has been before was still there. With a sharp ring, the sword came towards Boone's neck, stopping only a hair's width away from his skin while the Sniper still held the gun in his hand and stared defiantly at the man.

"Speak- about what?" The Courier inquired. "Because we shot you?!" She was getting really pissed here. "Dude- you were a huge coyote beast that was tearing apart _people_! Everybody would have shot you!"

"As to why you carry around _heads_ ", the man spat with a venomous tone. "You do not seem like bandits to me, nor are you necromancers. So _why_?"

The Courier paled. He had noticed the two Fiend's heads? Woah. He really didn't miss anything, did he?

The steel biting into Boone's throat pulled her back to reality. "They're proof!" The Courier yelled, "You know? For bounty?"

"Proof for bounty?" The man narrowed his eyes for a few tense moments. "You are bounty hunters?"

"Not always", the woman replied, "But we need the money."

Understanding flashed across the man's face. "These men were bandits then, correct?"

"The worst fuckers", Boone growled. "Murder, cannibalism, rape- take your pick. We're just trying to clean this place up."

The man seemed to think about it for a moment before he removed the blade and sheathed it again, stepping back from them. "Then I must apologize to you then. The Blood of the Beast is strong enough to cloud my judgement. But these bandits attempted to rob me of my things, so I made them pay for it." He frowned at the two of them. "And I mistook you for bandits like them- especially after you shot at me."

"Oh well", the Courier muttered. "Happens to the best? But it's been my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you." She paused. "Well, you yelled back anyways. Geez man. Doesn't all that shouting hurt your voice?"

"Not really", the man shrugged. He turned to the still frozen ED-E and aimed his hand at it, causing _flames_ to engulf the robot and thaw it right out again.

The two stared at him with wide eyes before the Courier cleared her throat. "Uhm- what pit of raditated waste did you crawl out of again? Because I so want to take a dip in it too."

"I am afraid I do not understand your question. I do not hail from any 'pit'", the man explained confused. "I hail from Skyrim, a land of Tamriel. And I wish to return to it as soon as possible." He eyed the sky for a second. "I think it might not be that easy though. You don't have enough _moons._ "

* * *

 **And the Winner is: The Dovahkiin!**

 **Okay, so this was a bit unfair here. The Courier might be the biggest, toughest and meanes guy in all of the Mojave, but the Dragonborn is a bit over their head. That guy is a professional adventurer/dragon slayer/thief/assassin/hero for hire/king killer who likes to shout at people until they go away. Survival-wise the Courier is better adapted to the dangerous world of Fallout, but I doubt they are as strong as a grim Nord, especially if it's a female Courier with the physique of a bean pole.**

 **On large distance, she might win against the Dragonborn, but that's only because she could pick him off before he even notices them, but in close combat the Dovahkiin will win. He has more experience with enemies, can utilize magic and dragon shouts and can sponge more damage because he has better armor training than the Courier.**

 **Let's not forget the Werewolf form either. Never mess with those large wolves.**

 **As a side note, the Dovahkiin is wearing the Ancient Nord Armor set. It simply looks better than the Iron Armor set.**


	7. Alex Mercer vs Superman

**Author: Round 6. Alex Mercer vs Superman. This is the post-[PROTOTYPE] Alex fighting the Injustice World Superman. Buckle up and enjoy.**

* * *

The watchtower was silent. The last son of Krypton glared darkly at the screens in front of him.

Was he doing the right thing? Was it really worth to be the lone God of this world? Killing or lobotomizing any and all criminals all over the planet?

Would Lois want him to do this?

He often wondered what she would think of him if she was still alive. If their family was still alive.

But a madman, a man who should have been executed even by the law's standards was the one who took her life. Who took the life of every living person in Metropolis and expected to _walk away_ after that.

And Superman no longer felt any regrets for what he'd done.

What he had done was right- what he had done afterwards was right. He had taken down the ineffective law system and installed a stronger one.

Five years later, crime was nearly non-existant.

Why couldn't Bruce _understand_? He was doing the right thing to protect the planet and the people.

He didn't feel any guilt when he killed the Joker five years ago. There had only been rage and pain. And then the realization that everything was so much easier if just done _right_.

He glared at his own reflection with a scowl. Bruce didn't understand that he was securing the peace here. Nobody dared to stand against him either, not even Bruce.

The Watchtower suddenly shook. The Kryptonian could hear people shout outside and the structure creak under stress.

And then there was a loud voice, drowning out everything. "SUPERMAN!" A man shouted, "GET OUT OF THERE, YOU COWARD! COME AND FACE ME!"

A direct challenge.

It wasn't Bruce's work, however. Bruce would be more subtle than this. But who else was there?

"GET OUT OF YOUR FUCKING TOWER BEFORE I TEAR IT DOWN!" The man roared again.

Superman sighed in annoyance and headed outside. Why didn't his security do something? Black Adam had an entire army, so why wasn't he using it?

He would need to have words with him, later on.

Just as he flew out of the tower, he saw chaos on the ground.

A large part of the front lobby had been literally torn out of the building, and though the security forces were present, they didn't dare to do something.

The Kryptonian narrowed his eyes and dropped down, landing in front of the men and...whoever dared to challenge him.

In an instant, a man whirled around, teeth bared and eyes glowing red. He wasn't very tall, shorter than Flash even, with a black leather jacket and a gray hoodie. He also had giant claws for hands.

"Who are you?" Superman asked. The man ducked low and growled openly at him, but didn't say anything.

"We found him tearing open the Watchtower", the captain of the guards said. "Didn't dare to shoot, because he's a meta."

"Who are you?" Superman asked again, narrowing his eyes. "Are you here because Batman told you to do it?" He paused. "Is it because he wants to distract me?"

"I am here because I will fucking end you", the man snarled. Without any warning, he suddenly pounced right at the last son of Krypton.

A part of Kal'El was surprised just how fast the man was moving, though it was a far cry from his speed. Superman easily avoided the attack, expecting the man to stop and head after him.

But he didn't.

Instead, he barreled right into the group of soldiers and...utterly eviscerated the three or four men who stood just behind the Kryptonian. The others immediately dove to the sides, watching in terror how his claws easily shredded even body armor, though he became quickly aware that he missed his target and aborted, whirling around to glare at his foe.

But then a group of...tentacles rose from his back and ensnared the bodies, dragged them towards and _inside_ him in a flurry of nauseating tendrils. Kal only watched in silent horror for a moment before he growled. This man had just murdered several of his men.

In that moment, the man snarled and leapt off the floor towards Superman. The last son of Krypton immediately dove into his direction, so both collided in mid-air. Claws raked effortlessly through the Kryptonian's suit, though they scraped uselessly against his skin.

Superman set his jaw at the realization that they got through right into his personal space and slammed the man into the ground with far more power than he actually intended. The asphalt caved in with a loud crack, and the tremor was easily noticeable all across the city.

But then again, the guy was pretty heavy and quite resilient, something that baffled the Justice Lord.

With a snarl, the man suddenly lashed his leg out, kicking the Kryptonian off him. Superman floated back, bracing himself, but then the man was back upright. His claws melted away, turning into massive club-like fists with short stubby fingers. He let out a snarl and slammed them hard into the ground, seconds before a cluster of giant spikes broke through the concrete. Superman didn't bother to dodge, instead he whacked his fist down, shattering the largest spike. It didn't crumble like stone, but rather was bend away like metal. The man hissed, as if in pain, and the spikes pulled back.

Then he jumped at the last son of Krypton once more, slower this time and with his fists hauled over his head.

Superman met him half-way in the air, slamming his fist into the other's stomach. The man faltered for a moment with a gasp, but brought the fists crushing down anyways. The impact was incredibly strong, causing the Justice Lord to plummet back towards the floor.

He barely felt the impact, but he felt his head spin, though it was only a minor trouble. With grit teeth, he shot back towards his foe, wrapped his arms around his mid-section and flew off. He battered him through four larger buildings at least, but the man didn't give up. Instead, he continued his assault with the massive club-like fists, smashing them into his back again and again and again, unbothered by the sharp metal, concrete and glass he was being crushed through.

Superman growled under his breath, feeling his muscles twitch and groan in pain in reaction to the brutal treatment. As unbelievable as it sounded, but he had the strong feeling he was going to get a bruise at that rate.

So he changed their trajectory, down towards the ground. The man's back hit the asphalt road and tore it open. With a pained yelp, he eventually pulled his fists back, changed them back into his normal hands and pushed against the Justice Lord to get him to let go of him. Superman struggled against him, though when the man's fingers found his eye sockets, he let him go immediately, sending him sprawling against a building under construction while flying up himself.

The man sat there in a broken window, snarling at him. Superman watched how he got back to his feet, glass raining down around him as tendrils snapped from his back and knitted broken flesh back together.

His own back was sore already, and he felt his eye twitch where the man had attempted to squeeze his thumb in. A powerful foe indeed, one who seemed to hate him and everything he stood for.

And thus, a threat to the peace he worked for so hard.

The man flicked his arms out, shifting one into a whip-like tentacle with claws on its tip. Then he lashed out. Superman casually avoided it and grabbed the spiked band tightly, then he _yanked_. The man actually skidded several feet across the ground before he started pulling back, digging his feet into the ground while doing so. Seconds later and more tentacles snapped from his back and drilled themselves into the floor and building behind him to give him more hold and turning this into an improved tug-of-war.

Superman scowled down the spiked tentacle, glaring at the man who stared back with seething rage. It would be easy to simply fly off and drag the man behind him. Maybe he would also pull his arm out of its socket, but then again, dismemberment wasn't his style.

So the Kryptonian eased up on his hold for a second before he charged towards the man. He hit him with full force, but didn't hold onto him this time as he went flying back into the building. Seconds later and he was already in the process of picking himself up, but the Justice Lord only narrowed his eyes. Red light shot from him and sliced from one side of the construction side to the other, cutting apart the structure.

He wondered whether he got the hooded guy too, when the massive, ten-story tall tower began to collapse, burrying the man beneath its still hollow frame. Superman could hear the shocked screech he made when steel, concrete and glass shattered all around him and crushed him beneath their combined weight. The noise was overwhelming, people all around him screamed and dove to the sides, though the last son of Krypton took great care that nothing fell on them. Dust rose from the ground, settling on everything around them.

It took the better of fifteen minutes for everything to calm down, all the while Superman kept a sharp eye on the collapse, wondering whether the man somehow managed to escape.

He didn't.

So twenty minutes later Superman decided to leave. The security forces of the Watchtower had arrived by now and their captain eyed the pile of rubble surprised.

"Get someone to clean up this mess", the Justice Lord ordered. "Drag his body out of there. I want to know who in the blazes dared to face me."

"Sir"

A few of the men moved to the centre of the pile to check on it. Superman was about to head back to the tower, when he suddenly heard a shout.

He whirled around, only to see a single black tentacle rammed through one of the men's chest, pulsing slowly as the man screamed. The tentacle pulled back and slammed its victim into the rubble with all might. Superman heard the bones crack and splinter and tissues tear, all while the man was screaming at the top of his lungs.

More tentacles snapped up and completely engulfed the body, then simply _melted_ it down and dragged everything under.

The pile exploded three seconds later. The Justice Lord instantly grabbed the four closest men and pulled them back, while something rose from the newly disturbed dust.

No. Some _one_.

The man in the hood rose slowly from the rubble. His body seemed broken, one arm was at a wrong angle and all of his clothes were torn open and bloodied.

However, the man simply flexed his arms, snapped the broken one back into position while tendrils crawled over his shape and instantly repaired his torn flesh and clothes back to where they've been before he attacked Superman.

The Justice Lord narrowed his eyes. He couldn't allow him to keep running around. Right now the man was weakened. His shoulders sagged and his legs shook from the sheer strain it took him to keep himself together. His eyes were no longer glowing, but were rather of a pale blue color.

He made a decision in a split second.

Superman shot to the front and seized the man's throat with an iron grip. The man gasped in surprise, though still began to struggle almost immediately. Both his arms transformed into giant claws as he flailed to keep his balance.

One of these talons hit the last son of Krypton in the face, tearing open his skin just beneath the eye, much to the former's shock.

Superman grit his teeth and squeezed harder, cutting of the man's air circulation. Someone who could injure Superman could not be allowed to live.

His eyes started to glow red, just as the man renewed his attempts at freeing himself. For some reason he was no longer gasping, even though the Justice Lord must have completely crushed his throat by now. Instead, he tried to pry the other's fingers off.

But his efforts were quickly cut off when Superman aimed his Heat Vision at the other's skull. The beams of condensed energy slammed through the man's skin and bone, burnt their way through his brain and exited on the other side. Pale blue eyes were blown wide in shock when the scent of scorched flesh hit the Kryptonian, and the man went slack.

Superman dropped the body to the ground, letting it crumble together like a sack of potatoes.

"Dump the body", he ordered his men. "And let this be a warning to everyone who dares to stand against me."

The captain nodded in response, while two of his men dragged the corpse away.

Kal'El still wondered just _who_ that guy was.

* * *

The captain and six of his men were gone. All that was left of them were gracious amounts of blood, belt buckles, twisted weapons, buttons, plastic bits and teeth crowns. And the hole they dug to dump the body was empty.

Superman stared at the report in front of him when he realized his mistake. He had underestimated his foe.

But who exactly was he? There were no records of him, no facial recognition _anywhere_.

It was as if he didn't _exist_ on this world, and still, he _was_ there.

Kal's eyes narrowed. Did Bruce manage to draw the man over from _another_ world? To fight him?

Where was he now? The hooded man hadn't been seen in _days_ , it was as if he simply disappeared after miraculously reviving himself.

Or somebody had gotten a hold of his body and removed it.

He grit his teeth at the idea of _more_ groups seeking to take him down. The man was a very good try- the claws had managed to break his skin, after all. The wound had already faded, but it showed the Kryptonian that out there was somebody who was able to injure even him, no matter how short-lived this victory was.

Such insurgency could _not_ be allowed to continue.

"Diana!" Superman called out. A moment later, Wonder Woman arrived before him.

"What is it, Kal?" She asked.

"Find this guy in the hood. Find out everything you can about him. He has to be captured, so we can find out who send him."

"I-" The Amazon cut herself off and glared at a screen. "Found him..." She drew Kal's attention to the screen.

It was the direct feed of a security camera.

The hooded man stood directly in a crowd and glared defiantly at them.

"Where is this?" Superman asked immediately.

"Star City Central Train Station", Wonder Woman replied. "Should we get security there?"

"No", Superman decided. "We can't let him know we know. Get the others. I'll take care of him, but you stand ready for my orders."

"Understood"

* * *

The civilians traversing through the Star City Central Station knew not of the danger they were in. Superman spotted the shape of the hooded man easily enough. Strangely enough, he wasn't hiding, but strolled casually past the people. And then he stopped and turned his attention skywards. Glaring at _him_.

His lips pulled away from his teeth in a wide, unhinged grin. It confused the last son of Krypton. He knew he was here, and yet, unlike days before, he didn't attack him.

No. He was baiting him. Luring him closer.

The Justice Lord motioned for his team to stay before he dropped down through the open roof.

He hit the floor with a resounding impact that made the people whirl around in surprise. As soon they recognized him, they backed off, leaving a circular area free.

Only the hooded man stood there, eyeing the Justice Lord.

"So. You _did_ survive", Superman growled. "How?"

"I am tougher than I look", the man gave back. Superman narrowed his eyes. Something was off with the man. When they first saw each other, his heart was racing, his blood rushed in his veins, and his breaths were sharp.

But now...all he could hear was a slow noise coming from the man, gentle rolling like waves on a beach.

There wasn't a pulse though. Or any sign of breathing.

"Who are you?" The Justice Lord demanded. "You have attacked me before, so tell me your name."

"Gladly", the man replied. "My name is Alex Mercer." The strange rushing sound suddenly grew louder and more frantic, seconds before parts of his body began to bubble and ooze. "But all you need to know is that you took what was most important to me", Mercer continued, his voice suddenly dropping while his body started to _writhe_. "So I will take what is most important to you."

His shape convulsed. Tentacles thrashed across his body seconds before his entire surface _exploded_ outwards.

Black bits were catapulted throughout the entire train station. Superman whirled around, expecting the worst- but the people only recoiled in disgust. Some even complained about the sticky mass that hit them while Mercer effortlessly re-grew what he lost.

Something stirred in the Kryptonian's guts. Something was not okay. So he snapped his attention back to Mercer.

"What did you do?"

"What was necessary", the man replied. "What needed to be done. To defeat you."

Suddenly there was an outcry and a man nearby collapsed, body thrashing and...melting. Flesh started to turn into a oozing mess, bones turned into putty and clothes were rapidly broken down into rags. People screamed and scrambled away, seconds before two more dropped down and suffered the same fate.

Mere moments later and nearly a hundred people were affected. Everybody else was screaming and running out, but even more dropped and were melted into a reddish-black mass.

Then came the first screams from _outside_.

Mercer's teeth were bared, flashing dangerously from beneath his hood. "I just _doomed_ Star City."

Superman's blood began to boil.

He crushed into the man within the blink of an eye and smashed him through the outer wall of the train station. However, this time it was different. By the time both got outside, Mercer simply...slipped through his fingers.

No really. It was as if he melted like the people inside the station, causing Superman to lose his grip on him.

In an instant, he stopped and whirled around, just to see Mercer standing there on the street with his arms writhing. They quickly turned solid, turning into his giant claws again.

And all around him, people were screaming as they began to turn into half-melted corpses. Superman's blood was roaring in his ears as he dove back towards Mercer. The man snarled and braced himself for the impact. He was heavier than before, but that didn't bother the Kryptonian. With full force, he tackled the man back into a building, then headed straight up while pushing the guy through the entire front upwards. Mercer was clawing across his face the entire time, and Kal felt the talons break his skin at least a few times. But then Mercer lost cohesion again and slid out of his grasp, landing at the roof with a heavy _thud_ where he reformed within the blink of an eye.

 _Just what was wrong with this guy?!_

Superman immediately dove at him, but Mercer surprised him by actually _taking_ the blow. Locking him there.

He no longer had the claws, Superman noticed, but rather a pair of heavily muscled arms. His entire body strength seemed to have increased with the change.

So he was a shape shifter? But not like J'onn. Whatever form he turned into was always a singular, clearly definable thing. But Mercer- Mercer could turn into... _slime_ to avoid being grabbed.

And he didn't have a pulse.

 _Or was breathing._

Superman narrowed his eyes, glaring at his opponent's body as he switched to X-Ray.

No organs. No _bones_ in the closer sense of the word. Just dense mass.

And then he noticed it shift. It always made this god-aweful sloshing noise when it moved around. Before he even managed to comprehend what was happening, Mercer had shifted the grip he had on him and bodily flung him into the ground. Superman scowled and twisted around to get his feet under his body and throw a punch at the man. Mercer was far from being as fast as he was- but he had some serious reflexes. He dodged the fist even at near point-blank reach and charged to the front. Superman scowled and easily avoided, only to witness Mercer literally fall apart. One moment his body was still solid, the next he was a mass of red and black tentacles.

Superman jerked back as they suddenly lunged at him. From every direction without even giving him any chance to dodge. A pair of massive black bands wrapped securely around his wrists and pulled his arms back, seconds before Mercer reformed, clinging to his torso. His arms were still the heavily muscled variation, and they were clawed into the Kryptonian's shoulders.

At the same time, tentacles snatched Kal's face and yanked it towards Mercer's to allow him to see the sneer placed there. Without any warning, the man suddenly jerked his head to the side and bit down at Kal's throat. The Kryptonian flinched back, struggling to free his arms, but the tentacles coiled even harder around his wrists. More joined them, trying to immobilize him further. Mercer's unnaturally sharp teeth scraped uselessly along his jugular though, screeching like metal on metal as he tried to break through the skin. Superman scowled and twisted his arms, finally ripping the organic bands apart. Mercer gave a startled huff against his skin, but followed up with suddenly slamming both his arms against Kal's throat. The heavily muscled fingers closed around his trachea and started to _squeeze_.

Superman's muscles immediately tensed to fight against the immense pressure, while also trying to shove the man away, but he clung on even tighter. More tentacles rose from his flesh and snatched around his body, further securing the man there. Suddenly there was something black in front of Kal's vision. He recognized it as another tentacle that suddenly stabbed right towards his eye. Out of reflex, he closed the lid there, only to feel the black tendril dig into one of the wounds Mercer gave him before when he slashed his claws all over his face.

Wounds, even when closed, were far from resistant as the rest of him was. And the tentacle easily slipped past the scab and burrowed deeper into the flesh on his cheek. Superman flinched at the sudden fire flaring up there, while also trying to pry the hooded man off his body. Mercer's teeth and fingers clamped down even harder, causing whatever he had as bones grind against each other with a loud crack.

And suddenly the last son of Krypton realized what he was planning to do. His teeth might not be able to break his skin, but he could still be choked. _Like Hercules did with the Nemean Lion._

The Man of Steel jerked his body again, finding Mercer still unmovable, so he changed his tactics.

Instead of pushing him away, the Kryptonian wrapped his muscular arms around the leather-clad back of the other- and kicked off the floor. He shot skywards, higher and higher within the blink of an eye. The temperature around them dropped more and more. Mercer's entire body began to writhe in an attempt to actually let got of Superman, but now he wouldn't let him. Three seconds later and they were high up in the stratosphere, where Mercer's body began to slow down in its movements.

And suddenly he was struggling, trying to break free and get down into warmer areas, while his body started to develop a frozen layer on its surface.

Superman smirked. Not many could withstand the far sub-zero temperatures at the edge of space. Mercer's body jerked, seconds before a heavy-looking black shell forced its way through his surface, covering all of him. His muscled arms had already morphed back to his claws and his jaws were off his throat already- the armor didn't have mouth opening, after all.

But now Mercer was struggling _against_ him, trying to break away instead of holding onto him. Superman smirked and jerked his head to the side. The tentacle that was stuck in the cut snapped off like a dry twig. Mercer was barely moving anymore, frost crusting his black shell as Earth's atmosphere vanished far behind them.

 _Now you're letting up. Too bad, buddy._

Superman roughly changed trajectory and dove back towards the planet. The friction they caused as they dove through the upper layers thawed up Mercer- but not fast enough. Superman held stubbornly to him as he continued to shoot across the sky, through the atmosphere at such a high speed the air around them caught fire. Mercer thrashed against him now, _shrieking_ in pain as his armor was starting to burn and crumble away. His claws flashed across his body, trying to get him to let go; but watching how the metallic talons turned black and turned to dust from the prolonged exposure of the extreme heat, was definitely worth the scrapes he got from it.

Mercer was frantic now, roaring and howling over the rush of superheated air as more and more of his body shattered and was burnt away. Superman gave one last push of speed and heard with satisfaction how the last of the blackened shell cracked to pieces and burnt away.

The Man of Steel remained there for a few moments longer, watching how the last remains of Mercer turned to nothing more than ashes, before he turned and headed back towards Star City.

* * *

Star City was dead.

When Superman returned, he found the remaining Justice Lords staring defeated at the once great city.

Whatever Mercer had done as his last act, it had destroyed every living being within _minutes_. The Man of Steel couldn't hear anything inside Star City. Not a single voice, not a single heartbeat. Only the gentle roll of something that sounded like water, but wasn't.

Worse even, there wasn't even a single body to be found. They found traces of them, mostly plastic and metal pieces from the clothing, but no body. Instead, the city was coated with a reddish-black organic matter.

It didn't take a genius to figure out where the stuff came from: It used to be the inhabitants just a few minutes ago. It grew in veins along the walls, it crawled across the floor and it wrapped around the lamp posts.

Wherever the fleshy matter touched trees or other plants, they withered before their eyes and died off, while their own mass was added to the corruption devouring Star City.

Flash returned to them, looking positively rattled. "It has spread everywhere", he told them, "But it stopped just behind the city limits."

"What is it?" Hawkgirl asked.

Hal, the Yellow Lantern, grabbed some of the flesh and scanned it with his powers. "It is..." He frowned for a second before his face turned ashen. "Oh yuck! It has been greatly human flesh- but _now_ its DNA is scrambled. All I can figure out its some sort of organic tissue."

The Man of Steel glared at the material, then activated his heat vision and burnt some of it off a lamp post. It grew back at an alarming rate.

And suddenly he heard something _rush_ close to them. It rose in its frequency, becoming louder and louder until the others can hear it too. He scowled as his cheek stung.

The fleshy matter close to them recoiled as if struck, piled together against a wall and just _grew_.

And then it snapped outwards, forming tentacles and tendrils that started to change into something...human.

All of the Justice Lords took an alarmed step back when the former shapeless mass turned more and more solid. Legs appear that are coated in faded jeans, a torso clad in a black leather jacket, and a head with a gray hood on it.

Icy blue eyes settle amused on Superman's face as freshly-formed lips pull away from sharp teeth in a mocking grin.

"Round Two then, isn't it?" Mercer asked. Before anybody could react, he was already on Superman again, hammer-like fists slamming hard against him to crush him into the ground. When the others react, he was already gone, sitting atop a nearby lamp post with a sneer.

"I only want Superman", he growled, "You others- stay the fuck out of my way!"

"I don't know how you just pulled this off", the Man of Steel bit back, "But you won't be as lucky again."

"We'll see", Mercer snarled.

Then both dove at each other once more. Mercer as back with the claws, swiping them fast as he attempts to attack Kal's face again. Kal is faster, avoiding his strikes with no problem. But his cheek stung and it was getting somewhat distracting.

But he had worse already.

Mercer was fast, and this time, he kept avoiding the Kryptonian alltogether, only coming closer when he tried to attack him.

But unlike their first meeting, he wasn't keen on causing damage. Instead, he swiped in and out, slashed his claws in a measured way.

Keeping Superman on his toes.

Kal growls and pulled back, glaring at the others. "Figure out how to get this stuff away!" He ordered, "I take Mercer!"

Diana seemed a bit worried, but she followed through with his orders anyway. Superman tried to grab Mercer again to get him up and burn him once more, but this time he didn't manage to grab the man before he fell apart into red and black tentacles and let him pass through his body harmlessly.

But Kal has some more tricks up his sleeve. He suddenly spun around rapidly, splattering Mercer all over the area. Sure enough, it didn't stop him as he effortlessly reformed from the splatters, but it did seem to confuse him for several long moments.

Moments Superman knew to use. He inhaled sharply and breathed ice over Mercer. The man recoiled as if burnt, hissing hatefully.

The Man of Steel smiled grimly. He shot to the front, grabbing Mercer again. This time, he wasn't fast enough to fall apart- mostly because parts of him are still frozen- allowing Superman to give him the full serving of his frost breath. Ice instantly covered the hooded man, chilling him to the core. Like before, his armored shell sprung up out of instinct as he tried to protect himself from the ice.

But the armor did not allow him to fall apart like he did before.

Now the Justice Lord had to act fast. He grabbed Mercer and slammed him hard into the ground, then dragged him skywards. Mercer howled out when suddenly his body exploded in an array of tentacles and spike, intending to injure the Man of Steel. The tentacles bounced off his skin, though they do manage to rip through his clothes and tear through his cape.

But Mercer's attempts at freeing himself were futile. Kal'El held him even harder, then dove down, smashing the man through a reinforced roof construction. It was hot here, but that is to be expected from a steel mill.

There was a shocked snarl when Mercer writhed against him, but he was still trapped in his own armor, his core temperature not high enough to allow him to free himself.

 _'Tough Luck'_ , Superman tought darkly as he proceeded to slam the hooded man into one of the blast furnaces. Mercer's shrieks quickly died down when the Justice Lord more or less drowned him in molten steel. A few black tendrils tried to crawl up Kal's arms, but he easily stopped them by plunging them into the glowing metal.

Superman waited a few more moments to make sure nothing remained of Mercer, before he shot back to the city.

From afar he could already see the others, and he was about to head towards them when something heavy hit him with far more power than he expected.

The Justice Lord slammed into the ground and slid over it for a bit before he caught himself and shot skywards.

Locking eyes with Alex Mercer once more.

The man didn't give him any moment to react (though logic demanded that he would be easily able to dodge, but he was too shocked to see the same guy he just drowned in molten steel) when Mercer smashed him back into the ground with the hammer-like fists. He straddled him to pin him to the floor while he smashed his club-like limbs into Superman's chest again and again and again. He wanted to break him. Or something.

Wanted to wear him down.

There was an enraged outcry when Diana crushed into the guy to ram him away. Mercer easily avoided, glaring daggers at the warrior.

"I told you to stay out of my way", he growled. "But you won't listen. Maybe you'll need a lesson in respect." His body jerked back when he snapped his head up. "DANA!"

Seconds later, something impacted into the floor close to his perch, black tentacles snapping out and curling in the air.

A second figure stepped through the dust cloud.

They were smaller, slighter build- and female.

Superman narrowed his eyes with a growl. The woman glanced at him with a icy glare. "You recognize me, don't you?" She asked venomously. "You should. Because you _killed_ me."

He did. That woman was in league with Batman. She was working with him, trading information with him about the Justice Lords.

Treason of the highest kind. And death is the only answer they have for this kind of crime.

The woman glanced at Mercer. "I thought you had everything under control, bro?"

So she was his sister. No wonder Mercer was so angry.

But she was also a traitor. And Mercer just murdered everybody in Star City.

They couldn't be allowed to live.

"I had, but the others are interfering", Mercer replied. "Can you hold them off until I finished the big guy?"

"I can try", the female replied. "No killing?"

"If you would. I want them to see this."

"Deal", she replied. Then she flicked her arms out, growing claws just like her brother, and dove at Diana.

Kal couldn't see the results of their confrontation when Mercer himself leapt at him once more, continuing their battle.

* * *

Mercer was relentless. No matter how hard the Justice Lord Superman hit him, no matter what he did, he would heal right up over and over again. Was he damaged more than just a few parts blown off, he would briefly dive into bits of the fleshy matter coating the city and emerge as good as new. If he killed him (the last time he had to drown him in lava), Mercer would just revive himself.

His sister, Dana Mercer, was similar. She wasn't as strong as her brother, but she was fast- and much more creative about her fighting style. She had broken Wally's legs to prevent him from running, she dislocated Hawkgirl's wings and tied her up using the fleshy matter, and she had torn Cyborg apart to leave him in pieces on the floor.

Mercer himself had, in a brief stunt, broken Diana's shoulder and thrown her into a wall, before he had proceeded with tearing Hal's entire arm off, then literally swallowed his Yellow Ring to prevent him from using it anymore. After that, Wonder Woman was forced to abandon the battle and bring Hal to the tower to fix him and have his arm sewn back on.

Superman hissed in pain when his entire left side flared up. It had started not so remarkable. Only a little stinging from where Mercer had attacked the open wound on his face, but it had spread quickly. First his face had felt strangely numb, then a sort of smoldering malaise began to spread from there.

The very air they were breathing was beginning to get heavy, enriched with organic particles from the fleshy matter that grew along the buildings.

What was worse, however, was that it began affecting him on a mental level. He was aware that they had fought for nearly an entire day- but he couldn't say how much time had actually passed. It was as if he was fighting on auto pilot, as if his conscious mind blacked out from time to time. Sometimes he was about to make a move, only to see it fail afterwards- without him knowing _how_ he failed it.

Mercer wasn't even winded, while Kal began to feel his exhaustion. He shouldn't be exhausted. He could go for _days_ toe-on-toe with the likes of Arthur and Diana, but fighting Mercer made him more and more tired.

Control was slipping from him, but he wasn't willing to give it up. He hoped Lex would soon get Black Adam and Raven here to take over. Magic was most likely something these bastards here wouldn't like.

The younger Mercer had pulled back, watching the battle from a low building, but not interfering.

Kal could still see the loathing in her eyes.

Mercer snarled and grabbed some of the fleshy matter on the buildings, ripped it off and shoved it into his own body in a nauseating flurry of tendrils. Seconds later, he slammed both fists into the ground.

The entire floor buckled up when giant spikes shot out of the soil. Superman avoided, but one nicked his skin.

Tearing a wound.

 _They weren't that strong before._

And suddenly Mercer was there, claws back out as he latched back onto the last son of Krypton. His jaws snapped at his jugular again, though Superman managed to jerk his head away again.

So Mercer's teeth dug into his shoulder instead.

And this time, his fangs broke the skin.

The Man of Steel bit back a groan of pain and slammed his fist into the man's direction, forcing him to let go.

His shoulder burnt. Kal hissed in pain and tried to force it back, but then his eyes caught sight of black veins that began to crawl from where Mercer bit him. Within moments, the injury was inflamed, and the infection started to rain havoc on his system.

 _Great Rao!_

He wasn't supposed to _be sick._ He _couldn't_ be sick. He never was!

His Kryptonian body was immune to diseases!

" _Still hasn't figured it out?"_ A voice suddenly asked. It sounded like Mercer's voice, but the man hadn't moved his lips at all.

Or maybe he thought he didn't speak?

Superman shook his head, forcing his body to move. His skin felt clammy and his hands looked paler than what he remembered.

Was he really sick? Did this whole battle cause him so much stress?

" _It isn't stress"_ , Mercer's voice said again, and damn! This time he really didn't see his lips move.

"This doesn't look too good", Dana Mercer's voice came from above. There was a sharp edge to it, but it wasn't malicious. It sounded more...tired. "It looks like you got a full-blown infect going on, Superman."

 _What? He was really sick?!_

Mercer suddenly chuckled and lifted his hand, pointing his index finger upwards.

The ground exploded.

Giant armored tentacles broke through the soil. Superman, feeling horrid out of balance, didn't manage to avoid them as they snatched his body. They wrapped around his wrists and ankles and pulled apart, holding him aloft.

And for the first time, he had barely any strength left. His eyes burnt and his throat was sore, he was sweaty and his heart was racing in his chest, while he was freezing and burning at the same time.

"Where is the Kryptonite?" He bit out with a low hiss.

"Kryptonite?" Mercer seemed amused. "Why would you think I had Kryptonite somewhere?"

"Nothing else would sap my strength so fast."

Mercer chuckled. "You made sure all Kryptonite was destroyed when you seized power, remember?"

"Then why?"

"You are sick", The hooded man stated simply. "A virus."

"Nonsense", Kal bit out. "Viruses don't work on me."

"Most don't", Dana Mercer agreed. "But there is one. One that can."

"Blacklight", Alex Mercer stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Nasty bugger. Extremely adaptable. Very efficient. Kills a grown man in under three seconds flat."

"Human viruses don't work on me", Superman bit out, straining against his bonds.

"Normally they don't", Mercer agreed. "But it had more than enough time to get used to your biology."

Suddenly he was right in his face, grinning. His claw sliced across Kal's cheek, making him jerk his head back. "Do you remember when I stuck my tentacle in that? I infected you back then." His grin turned darker. "And then I just kept you active to prevent your immune system from breaking it down."

 _What?_ When they fought the first time after Mercer murdered everybody in Star City, he infected him? And this...Blacklight...had been within him the entire time?

" _It was"_ , Mercer's voice echoed within his mind. _"It wasn't easy, I tell you. You are strong. Stronger than anything I ever encountered."_

Kal tried to break free of his bonds, but they held on tight.

One question suddenly became painfully obvious: How did Mercer infect him? Was he...infected himself?

"Blacklight is an interesting thing", Mercer continued, stalking up and down in front of the last son of Krypton. "Made by humans for warfare. They never expected it'll turn this deadly. They never expected it'll become _sapient_. Blacklight survived them. Survived everything they tried to kill it with. And my sister and I brought it here." Mercer's teeth flashed in a sudden angry snarl. "We came here, into your world, as _refugees_. We hoped this world would offer us peace- but it didn't. All we found was a state built on terror. On fear. And then you _murdered_ my sister."

Dana Mercer squirmed, eyes never leaving her brother's shape even as he stalked across the floor with a deep growl.

Suddenly, the man stopped and whirled around, eyes narrowing. "Your friends are coming", he said slowly. "They are coming from the west, across the river in hopes of freeing you."

 _How did he know?_

" _How do I know?"_ , Mercer's voice suddenly asked inside his head, while the man in front of him snorted and let ripples run over his arms. "Blacklight is what killed the people of Star City. Blacklight is what coated all this here. Blacklight is what revived my sister. Blacklight is what gave me my powers." Suddenly his eyes flashed. "I _am_ Blacklight, Kal'El. I _am_ the virus that is infecting your system." He spread his arms out, motioning to the city. "Didn't you wonder why I didn't die when you burnt me?" Superman saw the entire city around them shake as the matter coating it began to tear at the buildings, thrashing outwards and coiling in on itself. "It is because I am _everywhere_. I _am_ Star City." His eyes narrowed as tentacles unfurled from his shoulders. "And when I consumed you, I will be you as well."

* * *

 **Author: And the Winner is: Alex Mercer!**

 **I don't think this one was easy. Physically, Superman is clearly the stronger one. He can shove entire planets, can fly, is super fast and has heat vision. Alex is clearly slower, weaker and has less abilities. Superman can easily 'sniff' him out on every occasion and can easily beat him by simply drowning him in lava. Alex wouldn't survive that.  
But- there is the catch. Alex isn't a super-powered human, he is a collection of viral cells in the shape of a human. He is technically immortal, since as long one cell survives, Blacklight can regenerate.**

 **If Alex uses brute force, he can not defeat Superman. However, if he fights like a virus, infecting others and creating large stockpiles of Blacklight biomass, he can easily wear Superman out and come out on top.**


	8. Jedi vs Space Marine

**Author: Round 7, a battle requested by The Crumpet God, more than a year ago. Hey, I am able to deliver, it just takes a little while. Anyways, he suggested 'A Jedi vs a 40k Warhammer Space Marine', with the additional tag of using the strongest I know. Well, I picked Kyle Katarn for this.**

* * *

Ah. Nar Shaddaa. Such a sweet cesspit of violence, filth and corruption could not be found a second time in the entire galaxy.

It was just fitting it was the Hutt's favorite place outside of Nal Hutta.

Kyle Katarn snorted as he made his way to one of the more...infamous cantinas. To be honest, he hadn't been to Nar Shaddaa since dealing with Reelo Baruk, who wanted to dispose of him in his trash compactor and shoot Lando's ship full of holes. And now he was back, hunting yet _another_ crime lord. Kyle frowned. It seemed as if the moon only consisted of criminals. And why was it the job of the Jedi to deal with them anyways? He could have done very well _without_ coming back to this wretched place for the next three decades or so.

But there had been no choice in this matters, and Kyle admitted his fate. He didn't like it, but some things had to be done. So he was now currently heading towards a cantina that was called _Jekk'Jekk Tarr_ \- named after a series of non-human cantinas that had been around since forever.

Maybe Luke was a huge troll on the inside, because they have enough perfectly non-human Jedi and Jedi Masters, and yet he sent him. Oh well. Guess it was time to shake them up a bit.

Kyle went to the front door and pressed a button, waiting for it to slide open. The bouncer, a huge Weequay, immediately came rushing towards him once the door was open. "No humans!" He shouted angrily, ready to throw the man back out.

Kyle glanced at him with furrowed brows. "I am here for a friend", he explained, "And it would be better if you let me in."

The Weequay didn't budge, so Kyle set his face into the deepest scowl he could, shoving his coat away to show his light saber. "I repeat. It would be better if you let me in."

The bouncer flinched and obediently took a step back. The Jedi could walk through unhindered.

Of course, once he was inside, the patrons all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him. Some with surprise, some with disgust, but most with anger.

Kyle arched his eyebrows and crossed his arms, letting them see the light saber he wore attached to his belt. "I am looking for Ular. Once I found him, I'll leave you to your business", he said. "But it's personal. Where is he?"

He heard glass shatter to the left side, though he didn't need to turn his head. Instead, he spread his awareness, connecting to the Force around him so he could see the green Twi'lek stare at his back in fear.

"Hi Ular", Kyle said way too chipper.

Ular burst from the Jekk'Jekk Tarr.

Kyle sighed and turned to the other patrons. "Sorry for having interrupted, but it seems my friend just left. Well, I will no longer claim your hospitality." He turned and walked back outside.

He noticed Ular run down the streets further down the block and groaned. "Ular!" He called after him. "I am a _Jedi_. You can't run from a Jedi!"

Ular responded by running even faster.

Kyle sighed and slowly set after him. Even if the Twi'lek managed to outrun him (though it was questionable), Kyle could always just ping his location through the Force, as long he didn't go off-planet.

But it looked like he was lucky. As he easily jogged after Ular, never losing him out of his sight, he noticed that he was running to where he already suspected his boss was. That idiot had brought him straight to his target.

Kyle deliberately slowed down slightly, so the guards wouldn't notice his presence. Ular was in there, hiding.

Now he just needed a good plan on how to get him out of there. Preferably without being shot at too much.

His musings were cut short abruptly when suddenly the entire complex exploded.

Kyle ducked to the side, scrambling away to get some distance between himself and the roar of super-heated air, and hid behind a large container made of solid plasteel.

He waited for several minutes before he carefully peeked his head over his cover. He stared in shock at the wreckage of the building.

The explosion had been so strong, it had rendered the skyscrapers on either side to blackened husks too. He could only begin guessing how many lives were lost in this blast.

Okay, most have probably been criminal scum anyways, but that didn't make it any better. Jedi were, by nature, pacifists, using violence only if necessary.

But this- this sheer loss of life, it was terrible.

He sent out a Force Pulse, hoping to find at least someone alive amongst the many souls torn from their bodies that were all shrieking in agony.

He found one who was still alive, and didn't like the feeling of him. Kyle had been many things in his life- from Stormtrooper to Rebel to Dark Jedi and Jedi Master in the end, and he had often survived because his gut instincts were always right about the level of danger a person represented.

And that guy was high up on the list, maybe even above Desann.

And he was currently leaving the ruined complex.

He was _tall_ , standing at around eight to ten feet. He was dressed in a bulky blue armor, that covered all of him. In one hand he held a war hammer the size of Kyle, the other hung loosely by his side, near a massive blaster on his belt.

Kyle groaned. _Space Marines!_

He knew these guys. Hell, most of the Galaxy knew these guys. Originating from a small system at the outer rims, these guys were about the only ones to not only withstand the Empire's attempts to conquer them, but also managed to _drive them back._

They didn't even need the Republic's help doing so, and their own Emperor was not very open towards the Republic anyways. Kyle had worked with a Space Marine once too. His name was Dominic. He had been a great guy- not only physically, but also mentally- but he still scared the then-still-rebel shitless.

And that guy was probably a foot or so taller than Dom had been.

Still, it was possible to talk to these guys. They weren't the bad guys, after all. Kyle braced himself and stepped out of his cover, stomping towards the wreckage and the armored guy.

"Hey!" He snapped. The massive armored man slowly turned to glare at him. Kyle felt a spike of fear because a nine-foot-Supersoldier was just glaring at him.

But he didn't show it on the outside.

"What the Hell were you thinking?!" The smaller Jedi barked. "You have just killed Force-knows-how-many!"

The Marine glared harder. "Approximately three hundred and fifty-three", he growled. "About ninety-nine percent have been criminals or have been in league with criminals."

"Why?!"

The Marine glowered. "By Order of the Emperor. These men have committed treachery against the Empire by siding with the false Emperor and are thus punished with death."

Kyle scowled deeper. "You can't just go around and murder people!" He snapped, "You didn't give them any chance to explain or give them a fair trial!"

"A trial was held", the Marine told him with a low growl in his voice, "They were judged accordingly to our laws. I carried out the sentence."

"By _murdering_ three hundred people in cold blood?"

"Three hundred _guilty_ people", the Marine sneered.

Kyle furrowed his brows. "You guys are seriously wrong in the head. You just _killed_ people!"

The Marine had turned to face him fully. "And maybe there is something wrong with you _Jedi_ ", he growled. "Sparing your enemies? This will not reduce their numbers, but it will bolster their craving to destroy you."

Kyle scowled again. "So you know I'm a Jedi, then?"

"And I know more", the Marine explained. "You are Kyle Katarn. Homeworld: Sulon. Enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Carida. Rose to the ranks of an Officer, but left for the rebels before claiming that title. Fought against the false Empire and destroyed several of their most important projects, along with the Dark Jedi Desann. Do I need to continue?" He inclined his head. "A traitor then. Through and through."

Kyle blinked when it settled in what he just said. Once it did, he stepped back. "Traitor? I didn't know better, okay? And after that I worked hard to undo the damage I caused!"

The Marine snorted and took a step to the front, face mask tilted into Kyle's direction. "Now get out of my way, little Jedi. I still have much to do."

 _Much to do?_ Kyle's eyes narrowed. "Much to do?" He growled, "As in 'more people to murder'?"

"Nar Shaddaa is crowded with scum", the Marine scoffed. "And there are still some in League with those that betrayed the Emperor."

"So you will continue killing indiscriminately", the Jedi noticed.

"They are guilty."

Kyle scowled. "Not all of them!" This was a bad course of action. A really, really bad one. He shouldn't continue on this path. He really should leave the nine-foot Super Soldier alone.

But that guy was going to murder even more people- and it didn't matter whether they were innocent or not. Kyle could not allow this.

His muscles coiled as he ducked slightly. "Sorry buddy", he snarled. "I can't let you pass." He activated his light saber and pointed it at the Marine. "So. You will either return home and leave the people of Nar Shaddaa- or you will go through me."

The Space Marine scowled at him (Kyle was pretty sure he was scowling, though not at 100% because of the helmet), before he suddenly swung his blaster into the Jedi's direction. "Standing in the way of the Emperor's order is foolish", he growled, "Stand down, Jedi."

Kyle swallowed. He felt sweat trickle down his back, but he didn't move an inch from his position. "No", he replied. "I won't stand down."

"Then so be it", the Marine snapped, "Then you have forfeit your life!" He squeezed the trigger, shooting several rounds of highly explosive and armor-piercing rounds at the Jedi. Projectiles Kyle could easily deal with. With inhuman reflexes, increased by the Force, he easily deflected every single shot with his saber, though the impact was strong enough to force him a few steps back to keep his balance.

The Space Marine lunged at Kyle with a speed that shouldn't be possible in a guy with a frame like his, and slammed his hammer into his direction. Kyle easily ducked away from the blow and answered with his light saber. The blue laser weapon hissed and sparked upon making contact with the war hammer, and Kyle quickly pulled away with a frown. The hammer looked like it was made from either Songsteel, Phrik or even Cortosis, and it was possible the armor was too.

So no light saber here.

Kyle dodged another swing from the massive hammer and quickly rushed back to where he came from. Okay, he needed a new plan.

The Marine lunged towards him, way faster than anybody his size had a right to, so Kyle dove the the side and threw his hand out in the same moment, slamming a powerful Force-imbued shockwave into the man. The Marine slid to the side, but quickly regained his balance and went straight for him again, swinging his massive hammer. Kyle tapped into the speed side of the Force and propelled himself _away_ from the attack and around his foe's back. He brought out his light saber again and tried to slice into the less armored backsides of the Marine's knees. The saber sparked and bounced off, throwing the Jedi off balance just long enough for the Marine to backhand him with a bone-shattering blow.

 _Ow._

Kyle pried himself out of the wreckage of what had been a Speeder a moment ago, just in time for the Marine to come at him again, swinging that huge hammer again. The Jedi swore and rolled to the side, then sped up again and rushed away. He pulled his muscles together and released them, leaping upwards and latching onto a ledge fifteen feet off the ground. He dragged himself upwards, barely avoiding a streak of red-hot plasma that impacted into the wall.

Big Guy wasn't fooling around, apparently, but what now? Kyle was certain he couldn't beat the guy with his saber, and even the pushing him with the Force barely staggered the man. Speeding around him and jumping was a good way to avoid the Marine, but wouldn't help him get him off his back.

But then again...

Kyle's fingers brushed against the blaster he carried against his leg. He hadn't started out as Jedi, never had a formal training. But he had been a Stormtrooper, then a Smuggler.

A light saber wasn't the only weapon he could use effectively.

Kyle waited for a moment, then lunged across the roof utilizing the Force Speed. As the world slowed down around him, he aimed his blaster and shot several times in a short succession at the Marine. But, like his saber, the blasts didn't have too much effect on the bigger guy.

Except for notifying him to his position.

 _Nice work, Katarn_.

The Marine watched him rush along the edges of the buildings, shooting his blaster at him, and paused. Then he suddenly barked a loud laughter, making Kyle stop in confusion.

"A _blaster_ , really?" He asked amused. "Whatever happened to 'So uncivilized'?"

Kyle blinked, then frowned at his blaster. "Well, sorry to break it to you, buddy, but I actually think beating a guy over the head with a _sword_ is actually more savage than just shooting them on a distance." He shook his head. "And people say _Sith_ are the crazy ones." He pulled a thermal detonator from his belt, holding it up. "Whatever. Let them call me crazy."

He chucked the detonator with all his strength. The Marine immediately dodged to the side, but the shockwave still made him stumble. Okay, Kyle could work with that.

He rushed away, using the speed of the Force to run along a building's facade and reach another hidden ledge. By then, the Marine had got his bearings back together and was shooting him again, while also trying to get _closer_.

Kyle squeezed off another few shots at the big guy, until the Marine decided he had enough. He bent his legs and just kicked off the ground, leaping right over Kyle's head and landing harshly against the building, one armored hand dug into the glass and steel, both feet securing him there and his free hand aiming the blaster right at Kyle's face.

"Crap!"

Kyle just barely managed to avoid, jumping off the wall and back to the street level. The Space Marine followed suit, and the ground shook when he hit the floor.

Looks like maybe he did overestimate himself. Kyle swore and rolled to the side, away from the gaping abyss that was such a common sight on Nar Shaddaa (seriously, would a little security _hurt_ somebody?!), and tapped back into the Force to speed up and get the Hell away from the looming guy behind him.

Yes. The Great Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, the guy who turned to the Dark Side and walked out of it again, Vanquisher of Jerec and Desann, was running like a coward.

But that was okay, even Darth Vader himself would be running when an angry Space Marine was after him, so it wasn't like he was in any _bad_ company or anything.

He blindly chucked another detonator over his shoulder, then jumped up immediately to avoid the blast itself- something the Marine didn't manage in time, forcing his armor to take the brunt of the explosion.

Kyle noticed his chance and quickly bounced backwards, slamming his shoulder with all his might into the bigger man's chest to topple him. The Marine gave off a snarled swear and tried to grab the smaller Jedi, though Kyle was nimble enough to dodge away from him.

The Marine was back on his feet _all too fast_ , and lunged for him again. Kyle flung himself to the side, ducking under the massive hammer.

The armored leg shot out and hit him square in the chest, kicking him so violently he found himself flying backwards and into a series of plasteel containers.

 _Ow. Again._

Kyle made a startled noise when the Space Marine was suddenly upon him, hammer swinging down. He threw his arms up, creating a shield from the Force and protecting himself against the blow, but he knew he couldn't keep this up for long.

 _Ach. Screw this_.

Kyle kicked his legs out, catching the other guy on his thighs and getting him to pause for a moment. A moment was all he needed.

Energy deep from within the Force exploded all over Kyle's body as he threw his hand out and crushed a powerful bolt of lightning into the Space Marine.

 _This_ , at least, showed some effect. The Marine stumbled back, sucking in air sharply. Kyle didn't let him get his bearings back together and shot another lightning bolt at the guy.

The Marine made a disgruntled noise and swung his hammer, managing to counter the third lightning bolt. "What?!" He barked, "Do your teachings mean so little to you?"

"I'm not a Jedi", Kyle replied, circling the guy, "I'm just a guy with a light saber and the Force."

"Does the threat of the Dark Side not scare you?" the Marine growled, glaring at the smaller man.

"Oh, you mean this?" Kyle stopped and let the lightning run over his body. "Most people keep confusing 'power' with 'Dark Side'. I say, screw this- it's about how one uses the Force, not _what_ part of the Force one uses. But the old Masters were too afraid of their own abilities, they never used the full potential. Luckily..." Kyle smirked, "The new Master is a fan of 'Whatever gets the job done'. And you, buddy, you _pissed me off_!" He threw another, more powerful bolt at the guy to break his balance, before he threw his other hand out, fingers arching towards each other like a claw. The Space Marine made a choking noise when the Force found his throat _beneath_ his armor and started pressing into him, straining throat and spine, but he started struggling against him and forced himself to move back towards the Jedi.

Kyle strained against the Marine's attempts to free himself, until he threw his hand out, yanking the guy backwards with a combination of the Force Push _and_ the Grip.

The Space Marine was thrown several yards backwards, right above the abyss, where he plummetted downwards.

Kyle collapsed to his knees, panting.

He knew he hadn't killed the guy. No, the armor was going to protect him from the drop, but it would delay him for several hours. Enough time for him to get off-planet.

Kyle groaned and took his communicator. "Jaaaaannnn", he whined into the link. "Can you please come and pick me up? I just want to go home"

* * *

 **Author: And the winner is: Kyle Katarn, surprisingly.**

 **Well, to be honest, I know jack shit about Warhammer. All I know is the Space Marines are badass Super Soldiers and that a normal Jedi wouldn't stand even half a chance.**

 **But I picked Kyle Katarn, so the duel was a bit more equal. Anybody who fought the dude at the end of the evil mission of Jedi Academy knows what I'm talking about.**

 **Kyle's not above using dirty tricks, like taking you in a choke hold and beat the shit out of your kidneys, and he isn't scared either to use so-called 'Dark Force Abilities' like the lightning. Which is why he beat the Space Marine here. He was fighting dirty.**

 **I love him.**


End file.
